The Act of Sex

While in class Tuesday we lightly touched on the topic of other professions that sell their body for money in some way (i.e. models or athletes) and how that compares to a prostitute selling their body. It made me think of the articles that were coming up for this Sex Slavery topic. These women who engage in the prostitution, as seen in the articles, join willingly in order to make money or pay off some sort of debt. It is as though this prostitution is the only way for them to achieve these goals.  Especially since as state din  the article by Nakhil Nigam prostitution is legal in India and widely practiced. While kind of playing a devil's advocate role I really wanna explore the differences in these professions while saying these women may not have any other options to making money and supporting their family.
My first argument lies in how these other professions, like models, who use their body specifically for money are accepted in everyday society but another profession is not accepted.. A model's job is purely to use their body to show off clothes and they get paid for this and only this. Their bodies are used to show the clothes; they are not making money for their personality, intelligence, or skilled labor. Just as the prostitute  their body is being used for its appeal and a usage the body has. Why is it shameful for the prostitute and not the model? They are both using a purpose that the body can serve and as long as the person is comfortable with how their body is being used what is wrong with it? If a woman is forced to do either of these things or it is being handled improperly  (i.e. abuse, rape, harassment) then that is morally wrong and I don't believe that she is being respected and there is a problem in these situations. However, I do not believe these women should all be shamed for their choices.
I then found myself saying "Sex is a much bigger deal then modeling clothes." Then I found myself questioning "Why?" What is it that makes sex so taboo, such a much bigger deal than many issue we have in society? I understand there are many repercussions to having sex  like diseases, pregnancy, rape, harassments, assaults but there are dangers in everything we do. Sex is more hush hush and even on a casual level sex is taboo and supposedly  super sacred. However, if a woman is fully informed and agrees to consensual sex she should not be shamed especially in circumstances where it is her only choice to support her family. We are not in her shoes, especially as citizens in a first world, developed, privileged country. Most of us could never understand the decision a woman has to make like that.
In situations like this is the moral discrepancy really behind the sexual act or the integrity and respect for one's body? I feel it is not morally tainting if a woman does not have respect for her body. Do we morally condemn those who do not respect their bodies and have eating disorders or hide their bodes because they are ashamed? So my problem here is that the moral condemnation is not on the respect of the women involved, but just upon the taboo act of sex. Pre-martial sex is looked down upon by religions and communities purely for the act and I feel that is where a lot of this stigma of these prostitutes is coming from. People are not really concerned about the disrespect these girls may or may not be having for their body but for the act that they are committing. One can argue that the act itself is disrespectful toward their body. But I would like to end this on how? How is the act of consensual sex disrespectful or morally tainting?