Worldviews about the Global Community
Worldviews about the global community have undergone substantial change in the current century. Various organizations have made an effort to advocate for the rights of people who engage in behaviors that society has long viewed as forbidden. These practices could include human reproduction, same-sex unions, abortion, selling human organs, and prostitution. The world has realized that each individual has the right to the type of way of life he or she would prefer to conform to in an increasingly democratic society where everyone has the freedom to choose what to do and is protected by laws. In this regard, therefore, while prostitution has been in existence from the old times, globally, the number of countries that have legalized it are few; hence, it raises controversial issues in the present times. The current research argument postulates that prostitution should not be considered for legalization since it is both a dangerous and an unethical profession, supports inequality and trafficking of humans as well as contradicts the religious morals.
Prostitution as an Unacceptable Practice
Prostitution is an act or practice of engaging as well as a career that is unacceptable in the society even though it has existed for centuries. In the contrary, prostitution in the ancient Greek is not contempt since the prostitutes dedicated to the gods or the goodness of the priests. This act started long time ago and was used as a way of serving gods. Nowadays, prostitution has become rampant to the extent that some countries like Bulgaria and Netherlands have approved its legalization. From my perspective, prostitution is unethical act despite its existence for so many years. Making prostitution legal is great issue on the controversial topic of the countries globally. Ideally, the present article does not fully advocate since there are various side effects associated in relation to health, community policy issues as well as religious issues.
Danger and Unethical Nature of Prostitution
The profession of prostitution is both dangerous and unethical, and should not be legalized. Prostitution involves the act of permitting sexual contact with another person and in return receive payment. As such, an individual is a prostitute if he/she grants sex-based favors for payment, gifts or money. A prostitute can be of either gender, economic hardships or coercion constitutes the primary reasons for engaging in prostitution. In so doing, an individual uses his/her body as a commodity for trade. A significant percentage of future members of the commercial sex workers profession are the poor living in rural areas and struggle in life. Hence they resort to prostitution as a way of earning their living from the payments they receive out of granting sexual access (Walters). Contextually, the workers in the commercial sex field are predisposed to violence from abusive clients. Besides, the profession is unsafe for the participants as it can promote the spread of sexually transmitted infections and diseases (STIs and STDs). Often, prostitutes sexually engage with multiple customers; hence, could be an efficient path for STD and STI transmission. Among the prevalent diseases which could be spread through prostitution are inclusive of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), chancroid, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, herpes, and trichomoniasis as well as HIV/AIDS (King Holmes). Moreover, the act is unethical as it degrades the morals of the society through highlighting women as being mere sexual objects. As such, the practice of prostitution should never be considered for legalization but rather be condemned with the most stringent terms possible.
Supporting Human Trafficking
The practice of prostitution should not be legalized as it supports human trafficking, mainly women and children. While it is the oldest profession in the economic setup, the act is hazardous and dangers surrounding it are highly documented (Keegan). In this respect, research indicates that approximately 800,000 women and children find themselves in the cross fix of human trafficking within states and across borders to be used as sex elements, daily. As a consequence, the legalization of prostitution will lead to owners of prostitution agencies to run out of willing sex workers and hence turn to force the young children into taking part in this outrageous practice of prostitution without respect to their rights. Usually, the acts of prostitution are not out of free will of the partakers but trying times like poverty and harsh economic times may force the youth into taking part in the vice. In this regard, laws prohibiting the practice should be strengthened further, and offenders should face stricter measures (Geetanjali Gangoli). In essence, these steps will instill fear in the client base resulting in a notable reduction in their numbers, and ultimately the negative impacts of their actions will reduce.
Contradiction with Religious Morals
The profession of prostitution is in contravention of the religious morals and should never be considered for legalization. With the clarity of Christian teachings on the issue of sexual purity, the act is condemned by religion. Hence, the practice is seen as a significant issue in the contemporary society and is extremely discouraged by Christians. In this line, therefore, legalizing prostitution will imply approving the promiscuity destroying the family ties and encouragement of social disintegration. In this regard, prostitutes have an increased tendency to direct most of their attention on the practice forgetting their families. In this line, it results in societal issues. Based on the Bible, "For a prostitute is a deep pit; a wayward wife is a narrow well." (Proverbs 23:27; Holy Bible, NIV). Accordingly, engaging in this kind of practices is taken as unreligious and unethical. In the community and social context, such individuals are often cursed as in almost all of the social settings, sex is meant for only the married people and not intended for business-related gains. It is worthwhile to note that prostitution is among the age-old forms of dishonesty and disrespectful way of gaining in the world. As such, it is assumed sinful to engage in the practice, and it leads to moral issues in the context of religious teachings.
Arguments for Legalization and Counterarguments
Proponents of the profession argue that the practice of prostitution is a considerable way of substantially increasing the government revenue. For this, legalizing prostitution would promote the creation of employment opportunities; hence, increasing the tax returns for the government. Moreover, it is argued that legalization of this profession will allow the state the capacity of controlling the spreading of sexually transmitted infections and diseases. Also, with reverse psychology, the government would be able to control the use of the underage from taking part in the act. In this context, the legalization of prostitution would more opportunities to willing women, improve the conditions of working and reduce the males that are in pursuit of the services. Nevertheless, there are several ways in which the government can create employment opportunities for its people without looking into the prostitution-an act that degrades the morals and ethics of the society. As the practice has detrimental associated health issues, the government should embrace the available alternatives of the action in the creation of equitable employment opportunities for its people. In essence, these other options will help in raising the government revenues without sacrificing the moral decency of its citizens.
Violation of Basic and Inherent Rights
Additionally, prostitution proponent’s basic argument for making prostitution legal is that the prohibitions violate one’s basic and inherent rights. Prostitution is considered as voluntary sale or the renting of labor services. The prostitutes own their bodies as well as the labor services they offer therefore, they have the right to do whichever thing they wish with their bodies. In this case, since prostitution is voluntary the government is not justified to interfere, as it will be a way of violating the privacy as well as the personal liberty of the people. In either way, the government has no role to pay in the market of prostitution. The government should ensure that all market exchanges are generally voluntary. In simpler terms, individuals rights to property should be protected, the most important case is the right not to be forced to do something. Notably, prostitution is rampant in places where crime rates are seemingly high thus, the police force, the courtrooms are overworked on these particular cases, and actually, it does not affect prostitution. Apparently, the prostitutes and their customers are obliged to pay fines each time they go back to the street. The law enforcement always concentrates on barring prostitution rather than the real crimes out there in the streets. This causes the real crimes to have their way as they go unchallenged and unchecked. Thus, the advocates of prostitution argue that if only prostitution is legalized, the police will have ample time in scrapping off ideal crimes like robbery, rape and murder.
Conclusion
In conclusion, prostitution is an immoral practice which is associated with adverse impacts on those who engage in it. The profession has always been associated with dangerous, unethical, health and religious concerns. At the higher end, the trade takes women as objects to satisfy the sexual needs of the male, which is a practice that goes against the acts the religious teachings. The practice of prostitution is condemned by most religious groups and, therefore, engaging in the act results in issues within the context of religion. As such, if legalized, the practice of prostitution will encourage corruption in the society through a gradual emasculation of moral principles and destruction of people’s conscience. Giving an okay for the thriving of prostitution as business form results in increased incidence of human trafficking for sexual purposes, unsafe and immoral sexual acts. As a remedy to this unethically thriving business in the society, rehabilitation, contraceptive use and campaigns against prostitution should be supported, enforced and mandated into being laws, in the event they not already instituted by the religious organizations and the government. It is so, primarily as a result of increased reports of sex trafficking and the number of partners associated with this practice. Thus, the practice of prostitution should be reprimanded and should not be legalized by any means.
References
Geetanjali Gangoli, N. W. International Approaches to Prostitution: Law and, Policy in Europe and Asia. Bristol: Policy Press, 2006. Pdf.
Keegan, Anne. World's oldest profession has the night off. Chicago Tribune.: New World Encyclopedia, 1974. Pdf.
King Holmes, P. S. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Fourth Edition (4 ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Professional, 2007. Pdf.
Walters, I. Prostitution: Recent and Unstoppable. Singapore: Partridge Publishing Singapore., 2015. Print.
