Thanks @Gillian for alerting me.
The problem here really starts with interpreting the Pali. The phrase
which I have rendered
“But, young men, what use is a woman to you?”
is actually an idiomatic expression that needs drawing out to make sense in English. Quite literally it might be translated as follows:
“But what for you, young men, with a woman?”
A number of other translation are possible, depending on the case of vo and itthiyā. Then you have to decide what it means. The commentaries say nothing, which makes the matter even more difficult.
Still, I think the context makes it fairly clear what is meant. The Buddha seems to have spotted their spiritual potential. He then tries to draw them away from sensuality towards the spiritual path. To my mind, the Buddha is actually saying, “What use is sensuality to you?” The Buddha clearly got it right, since they all ended up as stream-enterers.
It might be, however, that my rendering is not quite optimal. Perhaps a more elliptical rendering such as, “But, young men, why look for a women?” would be both clearer and more sensitive at the same time? If anyone has any suggestions for how the translation can be improved, I would be most happy to hear from you.
Then there is the word “prostitute”. Perhaps “sex worker” would be better?