It is Less Ethical to be a Soldier than a Prostitute.

I'm going to address the two careers separately for now. -Prostitution- The first argument I will make here, and I'm sure you've heard it before, is that someone owns the right to their own body, and should be free to decide whether or not they would like to sell it for money or not. People who agree with this principle also tend to favor legalization of drugs because the only person harmed, if anyone is harmed, is one's self. It's generally regarded as wrong to hurt others, and I think I can say with fair confidence that this does not hurt others. By providing a service that another person wants, you are actually helping others. Think of other uses of the body which people perform. Sports athletes use their bodies to perform physical feats. Models show off their bodies for a financial profit. But why is their nothing morally wrong there? In all cases, people are using their body for money. It surprises me that the first people who would say Prostitution is an evil are those who say the body is worthless in relation to the soul (most religions). The body is not sacrosanct, and neither should the act of sex be. It is a fact of life, one which similar animals perform indiscriminately. It's not something to be looked upon with secret shame or revulsion, as we have come to define it. Having sexual intercourse, or loosing one's virginity, is no harm to the soul, nor the body for that matter. And what, on a base level, separates hugging and kissing from prostitution, except for the possible added side effect of a child? I know it may seem ridiculous, but we would not chide someone for offering kisses for money, or giving out free hugs (unless you are Russia). And prostitutes know what they are getting into. They are not inept children incapable of making a conscious decision on their own, but consenting adults agreeing to a mutually beneficial trade. Notice how for a woman (the majority of prostitutes are women, shocker) it is viewed as victimization to be paid for sex, but for a men it isn't cast in the same light. It seems sexist to me to say woman are being taken advantage of (and plenty have said they are not) and not the same for men, based of the traditional image of "vulnerable women". -Soldiers- Soldiers, on the other hand, have provided much hurt to others. I'm aware that many are 'just following orders. ' Regardless, they follow the orders assigned to them, which includes killing enemy combatants. Killing enemy combatants is amoral, as no man deserves to die. As for the charge that soldiers exhibit tremendous bravery, a positive virtue, I quote from Gandhi "Wherein is courage required--in blowing others to pieces from behind a cannon, or with a smiling face to approach a cannon and be blown to pieces? " (1) Surely braving the hell of the battlefield takes courage, but in doing so you contribute to the another's hell. Without any soldiers, wars could no longer continue. Within a minute we could have world peace, but we do not as of yet. Even if you are defending your country, as the military hardly ever does in earnest, that means you are putting your country before the lives of others. Others who would have, under different circumstances, been your fellow countrymen. Not to mention the psychological problems constant combat can cause to an individual, such as PTSD. "Sixty-eight percent of prostituted women meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the same range as combat veterans and victims of torture. " (2) This might seem to contradict my claim at fist glance, but I would argue the rate would go down substantially if it were legalized and age restricted. I looked at the source of the fact any many of the interviewed lived in countries where prostitution was illegal, and the figure included those who were forced into prostitution and those illegally trafficked. (3). Still, the percentage for combat veterans would be higher. My question is: what makes killing others for money less ethical than having sex for money? Sources: 1. . http://www.dadalos.org... 2. . http://www.womenslaw.org... 3. www. prostitutionresearch. com/pdf/Prostitutionin9Countries. pd