heretic888 said:
Perhaps so, but most male-dominated societies were not initially founded by groups of neurotic Puritan ascetics.
I truly wonder if most Americans realize how so much of their so-called "morality" stems directly from communities of intolerant religious zealots.
Laterz.
America wasn't founded by Puritan ascetics, either. Prostitution has a rich tradition in American culture. What's more, it wasn't the 'Puritans' that brought about the end of Prostitution, it was the early feminists.
Also, your over-emphasis of Puritanism is really based on ignorance of the roots of such movements that resulted in the end of Prostitution and banned Alcohol for a time. Puritanism and the Calvinistic views it followed began declining at the beginning of the Second Great Awakening, starting in the 1830's.
The Protestant Evangelical sects in the US began turning away from Calvinism, which is a central tenet of Puritanism, chiefly being that man has a sinful nature that cannot be changed without a direct intervention of God. In other words, man is inherently sinful. A belief in predestination was central. The belief that men were either damned and doomed or predestined for heaven, not by their own choice, but they a pre-made decision of God. Some men were predestined to heaven, some to hell. Some were predestined to be free men, some to be slaves. A man's lot was God's choice. Though Puritans believed owning slaves was wrong, they certainly felt no real compunction to pursue and end, as they believed God would make that decision.
The new Evangelical's believed in the inherent ability of man toward goodness, in stark contrast to the Puritans. It is that belief in mans inherent ability toward goodness that lead many Evangelicals to convert others. They believed that men could reform, and could achieve 'salvation'.
It was this inherent belief in free will that led many New Protestants of the 2nd Great Awakening to begin to start attacking social evils. They railed against sin, such as prostitution and drunkeness. They pursued and end to what they viewed as the EVIL institution of Slavery.
So, again, you are mistaken to blame prostitutions end in America on Puritans, calvinistic beliefs would not cause them to pursue an end to such an institution any more than they fought for an end to slavery. You have the Protestants of the 2nd Great Awakening, the same people response for pushing and end to slavery, i.e. BOTH Evangelical Protestants AND Early Feminists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
Again, it is less religious belief, than the belief that prostitution is tantamount to objectification of women, by way of reducing the value of a woman to a cash commodity, that resulted in it's becoming illegal. That religion played a role is only an indication to the extent that women of that era embraced a new version of Christianity more in line with their familial views.
Ironically, as I noted before, feminists are of two schools of thought. One school theorizes "prostitution as an act of sexual self-determination, decry discrimination and demand destigmatization and decriminalization; women are supposed to be adults who can choose what they wish to do with their bodies. In that view, the moral prohibition of prostitution is just mere masked patriarchal moralism, with a traditional view of considering women to be incapable of making decisions for themselves."
Contradictory, "Others, exemplified by the American radical feminist and ex-prostitute Andrea Dworkin, consider it to be sexual abuse or even rape; the prostitutes are then victims, who must be protected from the abuse of the clients and pimps. The former group pushed a law reform in Germany, resulting in January 2002 in the recognition of prostitution as a regular profession, making it possible for prostitutes to join the social security and health care system and to form trade unions. The latter faction of feminists was able in Sweden in 1999 to implement the law outlawing the buying of sexual favors"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution
Again, I point to the fact that, ultimately, prostitution isn't a religious debate, but a feminist debate. Women should ultimately determine if prostitution should be legal, as they will be the ultimate 'product' of legalized prostitution.
