Prostitution

[Resurrexi]

. . .

Edited July 2, 2009 by Resurrexi

[Nihil Obstat]

No, I don't think it's ever acceptable.

[Resurrexi]

The following is taken from [url="http://www.illinoismedieval.org/EMS/VOL13/13ch4.html"]this[/url] website.

'Given these limitations of civil statute in regard to virtue and vice, Aquinas goes on to assert that human law leaves many sinful things unpunished and the example he uses is simple fornication, under which he has included prostitution.61 He clearly wants to include fornication and prostitution under that category of vices that human law cannot control and which must be left to eternal or divine law. Yet could not a case be made that prostitution is one of those activities that destroys social intercourse and so should be prohibited by civil statute? His general principle, by which the state would tolerate prostitution without approving it, is that human laws "leave certain things unpunished on account of the condition of those who are imperfect, and who would be deprived of many advantages, if all sins were strictly forbidden and punishments appointed for them."62 What Aquinas seems to suggest is that civil statute should not place too much of a moral burden on its citizens. In the disputed question on evil, Aquinas goes so far as to say that God permits evil to exist and in a similar way human law permits some evil to exist in light of the common good.63 Such tolerance on the part of Aquinas is striking given his absolutist positions on other topics such as lying.64

There are, then, certain limitations to the application of law in society, according to Aquinas. Legal statute cannot punish every wrong action, but should rather concentrate on those acts that threaten the social order. In light of these limitations public authority can tolerate the existence of certain moral evils taking into account the imperfections of its citizenry and other goods or evils which may be at stake. However, such tolerance by civil authority does not constitute the commission or approval of the evil act in question.'

[Resurrexi]

Obviously prostitution itself is never morally acceptable, but I think that in the social conditions that existed in the Middle Ages, it was sometimes morally acceptable for governments to tolerate non-sodomitical prostitution.

[Resurrexi]

I did not like the way that this poll was worded, so I made a [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=95833&pid=1908538&st=0&#entry1908538"]new one[/url].

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1908540' date='Jul 2 2009, 08:05 PM']I did not like the way that this poll was worded, so I made a [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=95833&pid=1908538&st=0&#entry1908538"]new one[/url].[/quote]
Lazy spammer.

[CatherineM]

In the countries where prostitution is legal, human trafficking of women and children for the sex industry increases. The only place where it goes down is where the prostitutes are treated as victims, and the Johns are prosecuted as the criminals.

[Dan]

Let's take a look back in time. Seems to me that prostitution has been viewed in a rather dim light for the most recent 4,000 or so years.

If it has been held in poor light for that long, it is probably still wrong.

My view holds, in all things, that if it is true, it is not new, and if it is new, it is not true.

[Lounge Daddy]

I voted yes, but I would rather vote "the State shouldn't rule one way or the other" on prostitution.

The State simply shouldn't be in the business of recognizing such matters at all. And the State certainly shouldn't be deeming things moral or immoral (in legal terms, this would mean "legal" or "illegal.")

[Didacus]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1908520' date='Jul 2 2009, 07:01 PM']Obviously prostitution itself is never morally acceptable, but I think that in the social conditions that existed in the Middle Ages, it was sometimes morally acceptable for governments to tolerate non-sodomitical prostitution.[/quote]

To tolerate it is one thing, to endorse it by making it legal is entirely different.

[Didacus]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1908656' date='Jul 2 2009, 10:17 PM']In the countries where prostitution is legal, human trafficking of women and children for the sex industry increases. The only place where it goes down is where the prostitutes are treated as victims, and the Johns are prosecuted as the criminals.[/quote]

*applauds*

Remember when Germany was hosting the Wrold Soccer Cup and hundreds of women were 'smuggled' into Germany to provide for the expected 'increase in demand'.

Under no circumstances can prostitution be moral. The first victims of this crime of course, are the prostitutes.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Didacus' post='1912683' date='Jul 6 2009, 01:46 PM']To tolerate it is one thing, to endorse it by making it legal is entirely different.[/quote]

Agreed.

[tinytherese]

ditto

[tinytherese]

[quote name='tinytherese' post='1912816' date='Jul 6 2009, 05:08 PM']ditto[/quote]

Oh and when I say this I'm not saying that prostitution should be tolerated, just that tolerating something is not the same as endorsing for it to be legal.

[dairygirl4u2c]

this is the most sophisticated thread/ideas i've seen around here on this sort of topic

Edited July 16, 2009 by dairygirl4u2c