THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:
The sardonic jest designates this as “the world’s oldest profession” and indeed sex for sale is as ancient as the Bible, which lauds the converted Jericho prostitute Rahab who protected Israeli spies (Joshua 2) and lists her in the family tree of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1). In recent years, attitudes have undergone fresh reconsideration, as examined late last month by Pamela Paul in a major Wall Street Journal article headlined “How Defending Prostitution Became a Progressive Cause” (behind paywall at https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/how-defending-prostitution-became-a-progressive-cause-7832493f/).
At issue: Despite the long history of aversion, should this commerce be quietly tolerated by society and by government, or openly normalized, or decriminalized, or legalized, or perhaps even encouraged? Are today’s newly re-fashioned “sex workers” to be regarded as participants in the free market, making just another voluntary career choice alongside store clerks or schoolteachers, and endowed with pro-choice language of empowerment or bodily autonomy?
The discussion occurs simultaneously with a show business trend that a New York Times headline last week characterized as “More Visibility for Sex Work On the Small Screen.” Hooker chic has long been an entertainment staple. Consider that Elizabeth Taylor’s long-delayed first Oscar was for “BUtterfield 8” (1961), or that Julia Roberts’s big breakthrough came with “Pretty Woman” (1990). When “Anora” won the 2024 Oscar for Best Picture, director Sean Baker dedicated the award to “the sex worker community.”
Workers’ Rights
Paul surveys the way acceptance of prostitution has become a standard item in the progressive social agenda. The Guy notes that this has occurred with surprisingly little protest from organized religion. In 2014, Human Rights Watch recognized prostitution as a worker’s choice and right. Similar liberalized policy moves then came from Planned Parenthood, World Health Organization, and George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, as well as Amnesty International (much to supporter Jimmy Carter’s dismay).
Also the American Civil Liberties Union, whose policy typifies the emerging viewpoint. It says “commitment to sex work decriminalization is rooted not only in empirical evidence but also in our mission and commitment to advocating for equal civil liberties and rights for all people. Advocating for sex work decriminalization means advocating for personal autonomy, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, decarceration, immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and equal access to the right to life and security.”
However, Paul reports, liberals and feminists are actually “bitterly divided” over the pro-prostitution wave. For many, prostitution remains as oppressive as it ever was, not liberating. It is seen as “another way men with money and power exploit society’s most vulnerable,” with Jeffrey Epstein as Exhibit A. This side wants tougher laws against pimps and customers. “Each side has its own set of experts and data and cites ‘lived experience.’ Each argues its approach increases safety while the opposing view exacerbates trafficking and violence,” she observes.
Some Realities
Here are some of the prostitution realities compiled this year by the Worldmetrics market research firm.
Nineteen states have decriminalized sex work (meaning no criminal penalties for sellers), five criminalize sellers, 10 legalize prostitution but limit this to specific areas, and 10 (including Nevada with its unique legalized brothels) have “john laws” that criminalize buyers of sex but not the sellers
By a 2023 estimate, 1.5 million U.S. adults engage in commercial sex each year. A 2022 study found that 0.6% of U.S. adults have engaged in sex work at some point. A 2023 report estimated the total annual economic impact of American commercial sex at $9.5 billion, including direct earnings, associated industry expenses (security, transportation), and tax revenue (mostly from related drug and alcohol purchases).
The ACLU says that 40% of sex workers carry a criminal record related to prostitution, with 25% having multiple arrests. Public health is a continual factor. Federal surveys find that 60% of U.S. sex workers report using illegal drugs, which increases their risk of overdoses and such diseases as viral hepatitis, while 75% of U.S. females in the business reported a recent chlamydia infection.
The current dispute over public policy largely ignores the moral teaching of Judaism, followed by Christianity, which shaped western civilization. A summary of that heritage was offered in the 1983 policy published by the rabbinical conference in Judaism’s liberal Reform branch. Regarding all sexual behavior outside marriage among consenting adults, not just the commercial version, it stated that “such relationships were prohibited and discouraged by authorities throughout the ages.” Sexual relations have been tolerated with couples engaged to be married, but otherwise in the Jewish tradition “every effort was made to enforce such prohibitions.” Despite the “loose standards” in modern times, the rabbis concluded, “we should do whatever we can to discourage casual sexual relations.”
Why Tolerate — or Not?
Catholic history on this includes the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas and his work of political philosophy “On the Governance of Rulers” (1267). He abhorred prostitution in terms of personal morality but advocated toleration as the best civil policy, applying a lesser-of-two-evils calculation that this would counteract greater harms from adultery, rape, or unnatural sexuality. In that era, other theologians recognized that sex for sale is difficult to eliminate, often favored liberalization but limited to cities or to designated neighborhoods, and expressed the hope that prostitutes would turn to a more wholesome life.
Eventually, lax church attitudes shifted to prohibition. The practical reasons for this are listed in a Vatican manual. With toleration, sexual trafficking increases, public morals in general worsen, and women’s human dignity is debased. The current Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that prostitution “does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument.” The participant “sins gravely against himself” and “defiles his body.” Prostitution is also considered “a social scourge,” and worse yet when children and adolescents are put on sale. Though “always gravely sinful,” the severity of the moral offense “can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.”
Meanwhile, Christian outreach among sex workers, a classic element of the Salvation Army mission, continues. Such specialists avoid harsh judgmental attitudes. Covenant House, https://www.covenanthouse.org/ founded by Catholics in 1972, operates centers in 34 cities kept open 24/7 with wide-ranging help for young survivors of sexual trafficking and exploitation “through unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.” A similar Protestant-oriented agency launched in 2011 is Boston’s Route One Ministry, https://lovedbyrouteone.org/ whose trained volunteers build friendships and offer help to vulnerable strip club performers facing sexual exploitation. (Disclosure: The Guy’s daughter has served on the R.O.M. board.)
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