I guess I can, sort of, understand why some men in some situations might use a prostitute and I guess I can, sort of, understand why some women in some situations might be prostitutes.
There is a perhaps interesting series of films related to the American view. Waterloo Bridge, in 1940 with Vivien Leigh, is worth the look. It deals seriously and sensitively with the choices made. It is a remake of a 1931 movie which I would very much like to see, based on a play by Robert Sherwood. I have seen a later remake. It has a different name and I can't say I even remember it. Awful.
Perhaps of interest, despite the claims of increasing sophistication in our culture, the third version was ridiculously sentimentalized and my understanding is that the 1931 version is by far the most substantial. Here is a review, concentrating on the 1931 version:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/116064/Wat...Bridge/overview
Mae Clarke had the best role of her career as the heroine of Waterloo Bridge, the first of three filmizations of Robert L. Sherwood's play. Douglass Montgomery (here credited as Kent Douglass) plays a young American soldier who, while on leave from World War I, meets Myra (Clarke) during an air raid in London and falls in love with her, unaware she is a prostitute. Directed with a delicate mixture of realism and impressionism by James Whale, the 1931 Waterloo Bridge is head and shoulders above its heavily laundered 1940 remake -- which in turn is vastly superior to the 1956 re-remake, Gaby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide