Ethical Theory
In order to establish our position, we would like to support it further using the ethical theory assigned to
us, arguing that “the most dramatic change that has happened to prostitution is its industrialization, its
becoming a normal fact, and its widespread global diffusion”. The activity that used to be carried out in
local brothels and on the streets became a large market-sector inside a national economy, and has since
evolved into trafficking and sex-tourism as a result of globalization. According to feminist viewpoints, sex
is ultimately an oppressive, socially constructed device of patriarchal cultural power over women. Mc
Cormick, led by feministic ideals, referred to prostitutes as “sex-workers” (workers in the sex industry),
and emphasized the need of examining prostitutes’ health. She also emphasizes that their interactions
and experiences are shaped by their cultural and psychological backgrounds. A critical perspective on
prostitution as “sexual work” is based on the belief that the word is simply another kind of gender
essentialism. However, a more contemporary, more current word, “sexual work,” raises an entirely
ethical problem. The phrase “sexual work” refers to the exchange of sexual services for money rather
than the economic aspects of providing sexual services, implying that prostitution is a professional
activity. The technique in which an income is achieved, a type of employment for men and women,
rather than a social or psychological component of a woman’s class level, is a factor of prostitution. It
has been suggested that the word “prostitution as a commodity” comes from prostitutes themselves,
implying dignity and self-respect (igi 2008), but also to put it ahead of a larger determinate, “prostitution
as a commodity,” as well as early radical feminist attitudes around sex. A shift in public discourse has
happened as a result of this manner, with women who engage in prostitution being supported, viewing
prostitution as a social sector of industry rather than a moral one. What has just been said is especially
true for mothers who care for their children. They are even viewed as socioculturally responsible
individuals who, like any other person, strive to support their family.
After a period of utter amorality, when community life was based on traditional values and standards
drawn from myths and religious beliefs, prostitution existed in its sacral fullness, in the form of so-called
religious prostitution. Prostitution was then dressed in a new robe during the age of critical moral
contemplation. Its colors changed with different societies and epochs, and the magnificence of its
presentation mirrored the dominant moral consciousness in actuality and in its totality. Religious
prostitution arises in societies where prostitution has become and continues to be an integral element
of the religious cult, reflecting the close links between sexuality and religion. It relates to so-called
fertility rites, in which the energies of reproduction are personified and worshipped. Demosthenes, a
great orator and statesman of ancient Athens, said, “Wives are to spawn children and take care of
houses; we have hetaeras for entertainment, and we have harlots for sexual pleasure”. Prostitution
thrived in Rome as a slave-holding civilization with strict marital rules requiring that a wife be in the
hands of her husband at all times due to an ethics based on a disparity in the balance and equality of the
sexes, as well as double moral measurements. Venus-Aphrodite was a patron goddess of both marriage
and prostitutes. This ambiguous patronage effectively portrays the dishonesty of sexual morality.
The fate of prostitution in the Philippines was inextricably linked to changes in social attitudes toward
marriage. In the nineteenth century, Christian attitudes that marital intercourses should be solely for the
sake of procreation were joined by medical views that deemed intercourse, while harmful if overdone,
an acceptable health risk if performed simply and without wasting too much emotion. The red light was
turned on for prostitution, and it shone brightly. Prostitution loses its societal value in the twentieth
century. Its forms mirror society’s more liberal sexual-ethical ideals, as a result of the sexual revolution’s
