Why are most of us morally opposed to prostitution, when most of us
would consider doing it ourselves?
I took the online test below where I scored 50%%. I thought a 50%% score
would be high, but it turns out it's about median. That made me think.
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-how-much-of-a-whore-are-you-test-2
The results show that only about ~ 5%% of the takers would never
consider prostituting themselves under any circumstances. That is a
remarkably low number, considering how taboo prostitution is in our
society.
It seems that the amount of money is a moral criterion. Selling sex
for $1 billion is widely considered acceptable, but selling sex for
$1000 is considered unacceptable. But what most of us forget is that
the marginal utility of of $1000 for a street prostitute might be
similar to the marginal utility of $1 million for an upper-middle
class person. So from an individual's point of view, both have
committed the same "sin" of giving in to the temptation of money.
Why is that the absolute, rather than the subjective value defines the
social acceptability of prostitution? And why the hypocrisy?
