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I don't think that there is a real moral difference at all.
You are showing and selling your body off for person gain, it's all the same and quite frankly it's a sin, and a disgusting one at that.
I see stripping, porn, prostitution, lingerie modeling, all of it is prostitution.
You are selling off your body, your body is a temple you should treat it as such, and having sex for money, fame, ect is not treating it as such in my opinion.
It breaks my heart to see people fall into this temptation. sad

It's true that pornography and prostitution have many, many similarities. You can't receive money in exchange for sex unless that sex is being filmed. rolleyes

That being said, I don't think that making porn and prostitution lpillegal is going to do society any favours ultimately, regardless of whether it's morally correct or not.

Making something illegal is not going to stop people from doing it. Heroin is illegal in just about country on the planet, and yet millions of people still manage to be heroin addicts.

Making pron and prostitution illegal doesn't stop it from happening, especially with the invention of the internet. What making it illegal would do is to simply make such professions vastly more dangerous for everyone involved. The professional porn industry, sleazy though it may be, has loads of protection for the people in the films. Protection, regular STD screenings, and they can go to the police if they're being abused and not have to fear legal repercussions themselves, which is a huge reason why prostitutes, in places where it is illegal, do not feel that they can report cases of abuse while in their line of work.

I feel that a lot of people really automatically look down their noses at sex workers of all variety and forget that these people are human beings as much as you or me or anyone else. While some sex workers do genuinely enjoy their jobs...most don't. These aren't bad people. They're desperate people, many from childhood backgrounds of heinous abuse, they need money for food, they need money for their kid, and yes, many of tthem need money for booze or drugs, but take a moment to think what may have led them to needing the liquor or drugs in the first place.

Do these people really deserve to be locked up? They're meeting a demand that, like it or not, exists in our society. And for many of these people, for whatever reason, have no other choice or believe they have no other choice.

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There's a site by Shelley Lubben who was a former pornstar and she (as well as many others who used to be in the business) speak up about the atrocities that happen to the "actors". Many of them have painful histories involving child abuse or sexual abuse, and a lot of the "talent" that goes through the doors into the industry are there because financially thy've fallen on hard times. I have to say after hearing about this it's hard to even laugh at a related joke. It's so sobering. Shelley also has another foundation I think, but I can't remember the name. It helps people in the business get out and people with related addictions.

I'll admit, I do dabble in pornography. Along with that, I never have and never will have relations with anyone outside of an actual relationship. That's the closest I can relate to prostitution. Otherwise, it would never happen anyway. Morally I can see how the two are all but two figs on the same tree. The difference for me is in which actions I find acceptable. I do not cheat, or go out and retireve prostitues, because of social inbalance, etc. that it would cause. Granted, if it were pointed out how my viewing of pornography was a hindrance to others, or myself, I may very well not partake of it. But at present, it is a simple venue of pleasure and often a source of ideas. I mean, I understand how it is biblically wrong to do so, but I'm not a religious person, so it's hard to have those kind of convictions.

As far as the two being equally, morally wrong, that may just very well be perspective. My attunement to what is right and wrong is often reference based off of what is legal and illegal. There is room for conflict in this system where what I feel differs from what is legal, but I have to address those on a case by case basis.

On that thought process, is it not the same for christians? While trying to take the bible in whole as law, are some trials not questionable given all of its instructions?

But what if the person is single, is she or he committing adultery with a imaginary friend?

Why should it be any different? If in a commited relationship looking at somebody lustfully counts as committing it in their hearts then why should it be any different for somebody single?