Prostitution is, they say, the oldest profession. But like every other profession out there, this changed with the advent of the digital age. Recently, in an odd but perhaps not unexpected turn of events, some enterprising people – generally women – have taken to selling their sexual debut to the highest bidder online. The ethics around the recent phenomenon of selling one’s first time online are at best confusing. As a one-off transaction, which has been seen to reap enormous financial dividends, these incidents have attracted enormous media attention – but the thorny issues surrounding the business of prostituion still apply to these cases, despite their unique nature.As a society we tend to believe that sexuality is such a personal and private aspect of human life that it shouldn’t be commoditized, and as such many governments have established the act as illegal or at least heavily regulated. In Europe, prostitution is largely legalised, but with heavy restrictions on the circumstances around the transaction. In the U.S., it’s illegal in every state save for the noteable exception of Nevada. As is demonstrated in the very varied and complicated laws that exist around the act, the whole thing is far from being established as unambiguously right or wrong. Indeed, as well-loved American comedian George Carlin once famously asked, ‘why should it be illegal to sell something that’s perfectly legal to give away?’ The many possible answers to that question are deeply complex and undeniably personal. Whether or not we agree with the act of selling sexuality, though, the fact is that it happens – it always has, and probably always will. And now, with the internet serving to remove taboos as well as logistical and spatial restrictions, it happens in more creative, diverse and sometimes disturbing ways than ever before.
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