411 PROSTITUTION

YOUCAT Lesson 411

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

411  Why is prostitution a form of fornication?

In prostitution “love” becomes a commodity and the person is degraded to an object of pleasure.  That is why prostitution is a serious offense against human dignity and a serious sin against charity.  [2355]

A world map showing the legislative situation in different countries to prevent female trafficking as of 2009 according to WomanStats Project.

Color code for above map: Gray - No data; Green - Trafficking is illegal and rare; Yellow - Trafficking is illegal but problems still exist; Purple - Trafficking is illegal but still practiced; Blue - Trafficking is limitedly illegal and is practiced; Red - Trafficking is not illegal and is commonly practiced.-- by Kant66 - I, Ahjteam (People  Sin  Human Trafficing)

The average cost of a human trafficking victim today is USD $9,000 whereas the average slave in 1800 America cost the equivalent to USD $40,000. –Source Wikipedia

Certainly those who profit from prostitution—human traffickers, pimps, clients—burden themselves with greater guilt that the women, men, children, and young people who sell their bodies, often under duress or in situations of dependence.

“Since love cannot be sold, it is invariably killed by money.”  Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

“If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong.  The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins…for there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become.  They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self.  The Diabolical self is the worse of the two.  That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute.  But, of course, it is better to be neither.”  C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Offenses against chastity

[2355]

2355 Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays for prostitution sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. (Compare 1 Corinthians 6:15-20.)¹⁴⁰ Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.