The Immorality of Prostitution?

One of my sergeants in my medic school posted an entry about the morality of prostitution in the IVLE forum. Here's what he wrote:

One of the questions of debate that was brought up during tutorial was if there was anything necessarily wrong with the sex industry in Southeast Asia. I just thought I'd continue the debate here on the forum, by positing the contrarian view that there may be nothing morally wrong with prostitution in itself, given that prostitution - in the final analysis - still represents a viable form of work for many people in Southeast Asia because of the economic realities they find themselves in.

In making this stand, let me first defend against the following objection. One may invoke the Kantian principle that we should not use people as mere means to other ends, because doing so violates our human intrinsic value. This then makes prostitution morally impermissible because prostitutes can be said to be used as means to serve their patrons’ sexual ends. However, it is also equally plausible to argue that we use our bodies, and other people, to serve other ends all the time in our everyday life. For example, I'm using my fingers as a means to type this forum response; one's boss can also be said to be using one as a means to get a project proposal done. In this sense, there is nothing really morally different from prostituting one’s body and doing tough manual construction labour. As such, invoking the Kantian principle unfortunately results in all actions (including prostitution) to be either morally permissible or impermissible, and since it would be absurd to accept the reductio that we should not do anything since everything we do violates the Kantian principle, this objection cannot hold.

It must also be noted that a discussion of the morality of prostitution is distinct from a discussion of the ills of the sex industry. While there is nothing morally wrong with prostitution in itself (as I have argued), a common argument made against prostitution is that it promotes vice, which is a form of social ill. Another common argument made against prostitution is that many girls / children are unwittingly sucked into the industry, over and above the fact that some of them may even be knowingly coerced by human trafficking rings. Yet, as much as these arguments possess a prima facie force because of their strong appeal to our emotions, these arguments represent only at best a rationale for a very cautious practice (which is a matter of the law to resolve), and cannot be taken to be justification for a principled moral rejection of prostitution.

Feel free to share your comments or thoughts!
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I was almost convinced by his argument that prostitution is OK! I must say that his arguments are rather compelling. I gave it some thought and decided to defend my position:

Hey You Kai! You have an interesting discussion going on in your tutorial. Allow me to share my thoughts on this issue. ;)

I believe morality takes her place from a larger context; she is dependent on culture and time. One could argue from a theological point of view that prostitution is immoral. In today’s context, most religions frown upon sex outside marriage.

Specifically, the Abrahamic faiths have explicit directives against having sex outside a marriage. For instance, the Ten Commandments which Jews, Muslims and Christians subscribe to, condemns adultery. To be even more specific, Saint Paul of Tarsus condemned prostitution openly in 1 Corinthians 16. To argue that the Abrahamic faiths have no influence over our societies today would be absurd. For better or for worse, they are here to stay, or at least here today.

To look at prostitution from your utilitarian perspective, I guess these religious directives were intended for the protection of the family unit, which many believe is the basic building block of society. Illegitimate children borne by prostitutes for example, fall out of the usual family unit, and are often denied of the love and protection a child should receive. These children are vulnerable and often fall prey to social vices, which would affect society as a whole. To look at it in a utilitarian manner, while prostitution may alleviate the prostitute’s conditions for a while, the costs outweigh the gains on a long term basis. We have to help them to find other means for survival.
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You know, sometimes, I feel that university should be a place where I form my opinions on touchy matters like this. Because this is where I can learn to debate and defend my beliefs, and where I can get a glimpse of what others believe without getting into a holy war with the other party. I shouldn't be bogging myself down with psychological theories, which honestly, can be read from a textbook in my own free time. I ask myself, "Why am I studying psychology?"