[lucubratory]

>How is this any different from any job? I need money to eat and pay rent and I am forced to offer my body as a tool for an employer in exchange for payment, regardless if that job entails sex or laying bricks, if I don't offer my body for work I can't eat or live in a house.

It is no different in the sense that rape and assault (e.g. punching or kicking someone) are essentially similar physical acts. Nevertheless, we recognise that sex crimes are particularly heinous compared to other crimes. It isn't good or acceptable that people are threatened by others with starvation and homelessness if they cannot perform a given task and are therefore coerced into it; it is worse in a particular and special way if the thing they are forced into is sex.

>And keep in mind that prostitutes are not exclusively women, there are a lot of male prostitues.

I know, I have known some gay prostituted men during my time in the trade. The overwhelming majority of the sex trade is composed of prostituted women, even in places where it's highly legalised and regulated. It's a significantly more gendered industry than any other I can think of off the top of my head.

[Manuel_D]

> It is no different in the sense that rape and assault (e.g. punching or kicking someone) are essentially similar physical acts

Correct and this is reflected by the fact that both are criminal acts. If the latter is particularly severe it might even carry a penalty even greater than rape. This example doesn't really do a good job making the case for why sex work harms participants or society as a whole, because unlike battery paying people who face starvation and homeless to do work is not only acceptable it's seen as totally normal. Save for people who have enough wealth live off for the rest of their lives, everyone is working to avoid homelessness and starvation.