user23952: I consider the profession unwise and harmful to all. But I'm looking for a compelling argument against it.
PS. Maybe "compelling" is too strong a word.

user254: The Therigata includes their saying "free" from "crooked old" and or (elsewhere) "shameless" husband.
But I'm not sure that can be understood, or explained to someone:

Neither the goal -- because if I have never experienced it, then I may understand it only as idle and irrelevant-to-me words
Nor the means -- is the advice "actionable", how is it feasible for me to get from here to there?

And reading Wikipedia's Prostitution in Thailand I'm not sure there is anything really "compelling" in the canon: because if there were then perhaps it wouldn't prevail in a Buddhist society?
Thig 15 is about a nun who says she was rejected by her husband, because in a former life she had been a man who slept with another man's wife and therefore suffered consequences (including rebirth in hell and as an animal). If you, or "the prostitute" to whom you want to give advice, took that to be true then that might be compelling advice -- i.e. that infidelity/unchastity leads to hell -- but even then I think people take a narrow view from the canon of what the third precept means and use that to argue that prostitution is explicitly permitted.
Two arguments you could try:

There's no future in it -- youth, health, good looks fade, this is not a long-term employment opportunity
Find a better class of friend, a more moral/respectful society, that's important in this life

Are you trying to offer "going forth" as the alternative?
If not must you consider what the person's mundane employment alternatives are? Because that may be what they find "compelling".

23952: <p>I consider the profession unwise and harmful to all. But I'm looking for a compelling argument against it.</p>
<p>PS. Maybe &quot;compelling&quot; is too strong a word.</p>
 254: <p>The Therigata includes their saying &quot;free&quot; from &quot;crooked old&quot; and or (elsewhere) &quot;shameless&quot; husband.</p>
<p>But I'm not sure that can be understood, or explained to someone:</p>
<ul>
<li>Neither the goal -- because if I have never experienced it, then I may understand it only as idle and irrelevant-to-me words</li>
<li>Nor the means -- is the advice &quot;actionable&quot;, how is it feasible for me to get from here to there?</li>
</ul>
<p>And reading Wikipedia's <em>Prostitution in Thailand</em> I'm not sure there is anything really &quot;compelling&quot; in the canon: because if there were then perhaps it wouldn't prevail in a Buddhist society?</p>
<p><a href="https://suttacentral.net/thig15.1/en/sujato" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thig 15</a> is about a nun who says she was rejected by her husband, because in a former life she had been a man who slept with another man's wife and therefore suffered consequences (including rebirth in hell and as an animal). If you, or &quot;the prostitute&quot; to whom you want to give advice, took that to be true then that might be compelling advice -- i.e. that infidelity/unchastity leads to hell -- but even then I think people take <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/8531/254">a narrow view from the canon</a> of what the third precept means and use that to argue that prostitution is explicitly permitted.</p>
<p>Two arguments you could try:</p>
<ul>
<li>There's no future in it -- youth, health, good looks fade, this is not a long-term employment opportunity</li>
<li>Find a better class of friend, a more moral/respectful society, that's important in this life</li>
</ul>
<p>Are you trying to offer &quot;going forth&quot; as the alternative?</p>
<p>If not must you consider what the person's mundane employment alternatives are? Because that may be what they find &quot;compelling&quot;.</p>
