essay about prostitution

• Share full article

Should Prostitution Be a Crime?

A growing movement of sex workers and activists is making the decriminalization of sex work a feminist issue.

Credit... Holly Andres for The New York Times

Supported by

By Emily Bazelon

• May 5, 2016

L ast November, Meg Muñoz went to Los Angeles to speak at the annual West Coast conference of Amnesty International. She was nervous. Three months earlier, at a meeting attended by about 500 delegates from 80 countries, Amnesty voted to adopt a proposal in favor of the “ full decriminalization of consensual sex work ,” sparking a storm of controversy. Members of the human rights group in Norway and Sweden resigned en masse, saying the organization’s goal should be to end demand for prostitution, not condone it. Around the world, on social media and in the press, opponents blasted Amnesty. In Los Angeles, protesters ringed the lobby of the Sheraton where the conference was being held, and as Muñoz tried to enter, a woman confronted her and became upset as Muñoz explained that, as a former sex worker , she supported Amnesty’s position. “She agreed to respect my time at the microphone,” Muñoz told me. “That didn’t exactly happen” — the woman and other critics yelled out during her panel — “but I understand why it was so hard for her.”

Muñoz was in the middle of a pitched battle over the terms, and even the meaning, of sex work. In the United States and around the globe, many sex workers (the term activists prefer to “prostitute”) are trying to change how they are perceived and policed. They are fighting the legal status quo, social mores and also mainstream feminism, which has typically focused on saving women from the sex trade rather than supporting sex workers who demand greater rights. But in the last decade, sex-worker activists have gained new allies. If Amnesty’s international board approves a final policy in favor of decriminalization in the next month, it will join forces with public-health organizations that have successfully worked for years with groups of sex workers to halt the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS, especially in developing countries. “The urgency of the H.I.V. epidemic really exploded a lot of taboos,” says Catherine Murphy, an Amnesty policy adviser.

Onstage , wearing a white blouse with lace, her face framed by glasses and straight brown hair, Muñoz, who is 43, looked calm and determined as she leaned into the microphone to tell her story. She started escorting at 18, after she graduated from high school in Los Angeles County, picking up men at a dance club a couple of times a week and striking deals to have sex for $100 or so, at a hotel or their apartments. She had a part-time job as a restaurant hostess, but she liked feeling desired and making money on the side to spend on clothes and entertainment. “I really, really did love the work,” she told her Amnesty audience of more than 100. “I was a little reckless.” The same recklessness led her to methamphetamine. When her parents found out she was using, they sent her to rehab. She stopped escorting and using drugs and found a serious boyfriend. When she was 24, the relationship ended, and around that time her parents sold their house. Muñoz started living on her own for the first time. With rent and car insurance to pay, and a plan to save for college, escorting became her livelihood. “I was moving toward a goal, and sex work helped me do that,” Muñoz told the crowd.

A few years later, however, another ex-boyfriend, with whom she was still close, started to take advantage of the underground nature of Muñoz’s work. At first, she told me, he asked her to pay to get his car back after it was towed. Then he started demanding more money and dictating when she worked and which clients she saw. Muñoz didn’t exactly seem like a trafficking victim; she was driving her own car, going to school and paying her expenses. But looking back, she says that’s the way she sees herself. “Because the work I was doing was illegal, he started to hold it over my head. He blackmailed me by threatening to tell everyone, including my family.”

The man was violent, and Muñoz extricated herself with the help of a friend, whom she later married. Haunted by the control her ex-boyfriend had exerted over her, she founded in 2009 a small faith-based group called Abeni near her home in Orange County, to help other women escape from prostitution, as she had. A couple of years later, Muñoz, who now has four children, started letting herself remember the period earlier in her life when escorting served her well, as a source of income and even stability. Struggling internally, she had a “crisis of conscience,” she says, and came to regret her assumptions about what was necessarily best for Abeni’s clients. She stopped taking on new ones, and then turned Abeni into one of the few groups in the country that helps people either leave sex work or continue doing it safely.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Advertisement

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

9.4 Prostitution

Learning objectives.

• Summarize the history of prostitution in the United States.
• List the reasons that lead many people to dislike prostitution.
• Explain the problems that streetwalkers experience and why these problems occur.

Prostitution , the selling of sexual services, is yet another controversial sexual behavior. Many people, and especially those with conservative, religious views, believe prostitution is immoral because it involves sex for money, and they consider prostitution a sign of society’s moral decay. Many feminists believe that prostitution is degrading to women and provides a context in which prostitutes are robbed, beaten, and/or raped. These two groups of people might agree on little else, but they both hold strong negative views about prostitution. Regardless of their other beliefs, many people also worry that prostitution spreads STDs. All these groups think prostitution should remain illegal, and they generally prefer stricter enforcement of laws against prostitution.

Other people also do not like prostitution, but they believe that the laws against prostitution do more harm than good. They think that legalizing prostitution would reduce the various harms prostitution causes, and they believe that views about the immorality of prostitution should not prevent our society from dealing more wisely with it than it does now.

This section presents a short history of prostitution before turning to the various types of prostitution, reasons for prostitution, and policy issues about how best to deal with this particular sexual behavior. Because most prostitution involves female prostitutes and male customers, our discussion will largely focus on this form.

History of Prostitution

Often called the world’s oldest profession, prostitution has been common since ancient times (Ringdal, 2004). In ancient Mesopotamia, priests had sex with prostitutes. Ancient Greece featured legal brothels (houses of prostitution) that serviced political leaders and common men alike. Prostitution was also common in ancient Rome, and in the Old Testament it was “accepted as a more or less necessary fact of life and it was more or less expected that many men would turn to prostitutes” (Bullough & Bullough, 1977, pp. 137–138). During the Middle Ages and through the nineteenth century, prostitution was tolerated as a necessary evil, as legal brothels operated in much of Europe and were an important source of tax revenue. As the dangers of venereal disease became known, some cities shut down their brothels, but other cities required regular medical exams of their brothels’ prostitutes.

Prostitution was also common in the United States through the nineteenth century (Bullough & Bullough, 1987). Poor women became prostitutes because it provided a source of income at a time when they had few other options for jobs. Some prostitutes worked for themselves on streets and in hotels and other establishments, and other prostitutes worked in legal brothels in many US cities. During the Civil War, prostitutes found many customers among the soldiers of the Union and the Confederacy; the term hooker for prostitute comes from their relations with soldiers commanded by Union general Joseph Hooker. After the Civil War, camps of prostitutes would set up at railroad construction sites. When the railroad workers would visit the camps at night, they hung their red signal lamps outside the prostitutes’ tents so they could be found if there was a railroad emergency. The term “red-light district” for a prostitution area originated in the red glow that resulted from this practice.

Many US cities had legal brothels into the early 1900s. Beginning in about 1910, however, religious groups and other parties increasingly spoke out about the immorality of prostitution, and in addition claimed that middle-class girls were increasingly becoming prostitutes. Their efforts succeeded in shutting down legal brothels nationwide. Some illegal brothels continued, and among their number was a San Francisco brothel run during the 1940s by a madam (brothel manager and/or owner) named Sally Stanford. Her clientele included many leading politicians and businessmen of San Francisco and nearby areas. Like other earlier brothels, Stanford’s brothel required regular medical exams of her employees to help prevent the spread of venereal diseases (Stanford, 1966). Despite or perhaps because of her fame from being a madam, Stanford was later elected mayor of Sausalito, a town across the bay from San Francisco.

Prostitution in the United States Today

Estimates of the number of prostitutes in the United States range widely between 70,000 and 500,000. Streetwalkers comprise about one-fifth of all prostitutes.

Eric Parker – Prostitute 3 am – CC BY-NC 2.0.

No one really knows how many prostitutes we now have. Prostitutes are not eager to be studied, and because their work is illegal, the federal government does not compile statistics on their numbers as it does for physicians, plumbers, teachers, and hundreds of other legal occupations. One well-analyzed estimate put the number of female prostitutes at 70,000 and further concluded that they engage in an average of 700 acts of prostitution with male customers annually, or almost 50 million acts of prostitution overall each year (Brewer et al., 2000). However, other estimates put the number of prostitutes as high as 500,000, with many of these prostitutes working part-time, whether or not they also work in a legal occupation (Clinard & Meier, 2011).

Regardless of the actual number, prostitution is very common. The GSS asks, “Thinking about the time since your 18 th birthday, have you ever had sex with a person you paid or who paid you for sex?” In 2010, 11.9 percent of men and 1.7 percent of women answered “yes” to this question. These figures translate to about 13.5 million men 18 and older who have engaged in prostitution, usually as the customer, and 2.1 million women.

In 2010, police and other law enforcement agents made almost 63,000 arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). Most of these arrests were of prostitutes, but some were of customers. Women accounted for almost 69 percent of the arrests in this entire category.

Types of Prostitutes

Several types of prostitutes exist. At the bottom of the prostitution “hierarchy” are streetwalkers (also called street prostitutes ), who typically find their customers, or are found by their customers, somewhere on a street. They then have a quick act of sex in the customer’s car, in an alleyway or other secluded spot, or in a cheap hotel. Although streetwalkers are the subjects in most studies of prostitutes, they in fact compose only about one-fifth of all prostitutes (Weitzer, 2012).

The remaining 80 percent of prostitutes generally work indoors. Call girls work as independent operators in their homes or fairly fancy hotels and charge a lot of money for their services, which include sex but also talking and dining. Their clients are typically businessmen or other wealthy individuals. Many call girls earn between $200 and $500 per hour, and some earn between $1,000 and $6,000 per hour or per session (Weitzer, 2009). Escorts work for escort agencies, which often advertise heavily in phone books and on the Internet. They may operate out of an apartment rented by their agency or come to a client’s hotel room or other location. Although they may actually act as an escort to a dinner or show, typically their services include sexual acts. They, too, are generally well paid for their work, but do not earn nearly as much as call girls because they have to give at least 30 percent of their earnings to their agency.

Call girls and escorts rank at the top of the prostitution hierarchy (Weitzer, 2009). Below them, but above streetwalkers, are three other types of prostitutes. Brothel workers , as the name implies, are prostitutes who work in brothels. The only legal brothels in the United States today are found in several rural counties in Nevada, which legalized prostitution in these counties in 1971. Workers in these brothels pay income tax. Because their employers require regular health exams and condom use, the risk of sexually transmitted disease in Nevada’s brothels is low. Massage parlor workers , as their name also implies, work in massage parlors. Many massage parlors, of course, involve no prostitution at all, and are entirely legal. However, some massage parlors are in fact fronts for prostitution, where the prostitute masturbates a man and brings him to what is often termed a “happy ending.” A final category of prostitution involves prostitutes who work in bars, casinos, or similar establishments ( bar or casino workers ). They make contact with a customer in these settings and then have sex with them elsewhere.

The lives and welfare of streetwalkers are much worse than those of the five types of indoor workers just listed. As sociologist Ronald Weitzer (2012, p. 212) observes, “Many of the problems associated with ‘prostitution’ are actually concentrated in street prostitution and much less evident in the indoor sector.” In particular, many streetwalkers are exploited or abused by pimps, use heroin or other drugs, and are raped, robbed, and/or beaten by their clients. A good number of streetwalkers also began their prostitution careers as runaway teenagers and were abused as children.

In contrast, indoor workers begin their trade when they were older and are less likely to have been abused as children. Their working conditions are much better than those for streetwalkers, they are less likely to be addicted to drugs and to have STDs, they are better paid, and they are much less likely to be victimized by their clients. Studies that compare indoor prostitutes with nonprostitutes find that they have similar levels of self-esteem, physical health, and mental health. Many indoor prostitutes even report a rise in self-esteem after they begin their indoor work (Weitzer, 2012).

Explaining Prostitution

By definition, prostitution involves the selling of sex. This means that money is the key feature of prostitution. As such, money is also the major motivation for women who become prostitutes, as most of them come from low-income backgrounds. For indoor workers, and especially call girls, prostitution is a potentially well-paying occupation. Streetwalkers hardly get rich from prostitution and suffer the many problems listed earlier, but prostitution still provides them a source of income that they are unlikely to receive through legal occupations because they have few marketable job skills.

Despite this financial motivation, most women do not become prostitutes, and scholars have tried to understand why some women do so. Because prostitutes are not eager to be studied, as noted earlier, we do not yet have studies of random samples of prostitutes, and probably never will have such studies. As also noted earlier, most studies of prostitutes involve streetwalkers, even though they compose only about 20 percent of all prostitutes. Several of these studies cite high rates of child abuse in the backgrounds of streetwalkers, but other studies find that their rates of child abuse are similar to those of women from similar sociodemographic backgrounds who are not prostitutes (Weitzer, 2009). Although some studies find certain psychological problems among streetwalkers, it is unclear whether these problems existed before they became streetwalkers or developed (as is very possible) after they became streetwalkers. Methodologically, the best way to clarify this causal question would be to randomly assign young women to become prostitutes or not to become prostitutes, and then to study what happens to their psychological health afterward. For many reasons, this type of study would be highly unethical and will never be done. In the absence of studies of this type, it is difficult to determine what exactly prompts some women to become prostitutes.

Customers of prostitutes tend to come from the same kinds of social backgrounds as do noncustomers. They have certain motivations for wanting to be with a prostitute, but many noncustomers have the same motivations yet still do not pay for prostitution.

Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 2.5.

There is an old saying that “it takes two to tango.” Prostitution obviously cannot occur unless a customer wants to pay for the services of a prostitute. Despite this essential fact of prostitution, there are very few studies of why men choose to become customers. The implicit message from this lack of studies is that it is normal for men to have sex with a prostitute but abnormal for women to charge these men for this sex. The few studies we do have do not find any substantial differences between customers and noncustomers (Weitzer, 2009). Just as men come from various social backgrounds, so do the men who choose to have sex with a prostitute.

Customers do have certain motivations for choosing to pay for prostitution (Weitzer, 2009). These motivations include (1) the desire to have sex with someone with a certain physical appearance (age, race, body type); (2) the lack of a sexual partner or dissatisfaction with a sexual partner, including a desire to have unconventional sex that the partner does not share; (3) the thrill of having sex with a prostitute; and (4) the desire to have sex without having to make an emotional commitment. Although one or more of these motivations may be necessary for a man’s decision to seek prostitution, they do not entirely explain this decision. For example, many men may not have a sexual partner or may be dissatisfied with a partner they do have, but they still do not decide to pay for a prostitute.

Sociological Perspectives

Beyond explaining why individual women and men are more likely than others to pay for sex or to receive pay for sex, the three sociological perspectives outlined in Chapter 1 “Understanding Social Problems” —functionalist theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism—offer more general insights on prostitution. Table 9.5 “Theory Snapshot” provides a summary of these insights.

Table 9.5 Theory Snapshot

According to functionalist theory , prostitution exists because it serves several important functions for society generally and for certain people in society. As we have already mentioned, it provides a source of income for many women who otherwise might be jobless, and it provides a sexual alternative for men with the motivations listed earlier. Almost eight decades ago, sociologist Kingsley Davis (1937) wrote that prostitution even lowers the divorce rate. He reasoned that many married men are unhappy with their sex life with their wives. If they do not think this situation can improve, some men start an affair with another woman and may fall in love with that woman, threatening these men’s marriages. Other men turn to a prostitute. Because prostitution is generally impersonal, these men do not fall in love with their prostitutes, and their marriages are not threatened. Without prostitution, then, more men would have affairs, and more divorces would result. Although Davis’s hypothesis is provocative, there are no adequate studies to test it.

According to conflict theory , prostitution reflects the economic inequality in society. Many poor women feel compelled to become prostitutes because of their lack of money; because wealthier women have many other sources of income, the idea of becoming a prostitute is something they never have to consider. Sad but interesting historical support for this view comes from an increase in prostitution in the second half of the nineteenth century. Many women lost husbands and boyfriends in the war and were left penniless. Lacking formal education and living in a society that at the time offered few job opportunities to women, many of these bereaved women were forced to turn to prostitution to feed their families and themselves. As American cities grew rapidly during the last decades of the nineteenth century, thousands of immigrant women and other poor women also turned to prostitution as a needed source of income (Rosen, 1983). This late nineteenth-century increase in prostitution, then, occurred because of women’s poverty.

According to the feminist version of conflict theory, prostitution results not only from women’s poverty but also from society’s patriarchal culture that still views men as the dominant figure in heterosexual relationships and that still treats women as “sex objects” who exist for men’s pleasure (Barry, 1996). In such a culture, it is no surprise and even inevitable that men will want to pay for sex with a woman and that women will be willing to be paid for sex. In this feminist view, the oppression and exploitation that prostitution inherently involves reflects the more general oppression and exploitation of women in the larger society.

Symbolic interactionism moves away from these larger issues to examine the everyday understandings that prostitutes and their customers have about their behavior. These understandings help both prostitutes and customers justify their behavior. Many prostitutes, for example, believe they are performing an important service for the men who pay them. Indoor prostitutes are perhaps especially likely to feel they are helping their customers by providing them not only sex but also companionship (Weitzer, 2009). A woman who owned a massage parlor named “The Classic Touch” echoed this view. Her business employed fourteen women who masturbated their customers and offered a senior citizen discount. The owner reasoned that her employees were performing an important service: “We have many senior citizens and handicapped people. We have some men who are impotent and others who are divorced or in bad marriages. This is a safe, AIDS-free environment…that helps marriages. Husbands come in here and get a stress release and then they are able to go home and take on more. These are men who aren’t in bars picking up strange women” (Ordway, 1995, p. 1).

Dealing with Prostitution

With prostitution, past is once again prologue. It has existed since ancient times, and it has continued throughout the United States long since prostitution was banned by the United States in 1920. The legal brothels that now exist in rural counties in Nevada are the exception in this nation, not the rule. Yet prostitution is common outside of Nevada, and thousands of arrests occur nationwide for it.

As with illegal drugs (see Chapter 7 “Alcohol and Other Drugs” ), as we think about how to deal with prostitution, we should consider both a philosophical question and a social science question (Meier & Geis, 2007). The philosophical question is whether two people should be allowed to engage in a behavior, in this case prostitution, in which both want to participate. Many people may dislike this behavior for various reasons, but is that sufficient justification for the behavior to be banned if both people (let’s assume they are legal adults) want to engage in it? In this regard, and without at all meaning to equate prostitution with same-sex sexual behavior, an analogy with homosexuality is worth considering. Homosexual sex used to be illegal because many people thought it was immoral. When the US Supreme Court finally invalidated all laws against homosexual sex in its 2003 case, Lawrence v. Texas , the majority opinion declared that “the fact that a State’s governing majority has traditionally viewed a particular practice as immoral is not a sufficient reason for upholding a law prohibiting the practice.” It further asserted, “The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government.” Although the majority opinion specifically said its decision did not apply to prostitution, a reasonable argument may be made that respect for privacy of consensual sexual conduct also means that prostitution, too, should be legal.

Here it may be argued that prostitution still victimizes and objectifies women even if they want to engage in it. This is a reasonable argument, but there are many occupations that victimize employees, either because the occupations are dangerous (such as coal mining and construction work) or because the job requirements objectify women as sex objects (such as fashion modeling and cheerleading). Because hardly anyone would say these occupations should be illegal, is it logical to say that prostitution should be illegal? Former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders thinks it makes no sense to ban prostitution simply because it objectifies women: “Why are we so upset about sex workers selling sexual acts to consenting adults?” she asks. “We say that they are selling their bodies, but how different is that from what athletes do? They’re selling their bodies. Models? They’re selling their bodies. Actors? They’re selling their bodies” (McCaslin, 1999, p. A8).

The social science question concerning laws against prostitution is whether these laws do more good than harm, or more harm than good. If they do more good than harm, they should be maintained and even strengthened; if they do more harm than good, they should be repealed. A growing number of scholars believe that the laws against prostitution do more harm than good, and they say that the best way to deal with prostitution might be to legalize and regulate it (Weitzer, 2011).

Proponents of legalization argue as follows. Although many people cite the horrible lives of many streetwalkers as a major reason for their support of laws against prostitution, these laws ironically cause the problems that streetwalkers experience (Weitzer, 2011). When US prostitution was legal a century ago in brothels across the nation, brothel prostitutes were safer than streetwalkers are now. Prostitutes working today in Nevada’s legal brothels are safer than streetwalkers. Whatever we might think of their behavior, legal brothel workers are relatively safe from being robbed, beaten, or raped, and their required regular medical exams leave them relatively free of sexually transmitted disease. The health problems and criminal victimization that many streetwalkers experience happen because their behavior is illegal, and legalizing and regulating prostitution would reduce these problems (Weitzer, 2011).

In this regard, legalization of prostitution is yet another harm reduction approach to a social problem. As Weitzer (2012, p. 227) observes, “Research suggests that, under the right conditions, legal prostitution can be organized in a way that increases workers’ health, safety, and job satisfaction. Mandatory condom use and other safe-sex practices are typical in legal brothels, and the workers face much lower risk of abuse from customers.”

Legalization of prostitution would also yield a considerable amount of tax revenue, as is now true in Nevada. Let’s assume that 50 million acts of prostitution occur annually in the United States, to cite our earlier estimate that is probably too low, and that each of these acts costs an average $30. Putting these numbers together, prostitutes receive $1.5 billion annually in income. If they paid about one-third of this amount (admittedly a rough estimate) in payroll taxes, the revenue of state and federal governments would increase by $500 million. Because the tens of thousands of arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice annually would reduce significantly if prostitution were legalized, the considerable financial savings from this reduction could be used for other pursuits.

Legalizing prostitution would add the United States to the lengthy list of other Western democracies that have already legalized it. Although their models of legalization vary, the available evidence indicates that legalizing prostitution does, in fact, reduce the many problems now associated with illegal prostitution (see Note 9.25 “Lessons from Other Societies” ).

Workers in legal brothels are relatively safe from victimization by customers and from the risk of incurring and transmitting sexual diseases.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Lessons from Other Societies

Legal Brothels in Other Western Democracies

In many other Western democracies, prostitution is legal to varying degrees that depend on the specific nation. In some nations, streetwalking is permitted, but in other nations, only brothels are permitted.

The legal brothel model is what the United States had a century ago and has today only in rural Nevada. As in Nevada, other nations that permit legal brothels usually require regular health exams and the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of sexual diseases. They also license the brothels so that the brothels must fulfill various standards, including the safe-sex practices just mentioned, to receive a license. In addition, brothels must pay taxes on their revenues, and brothel workers must pay taxes on their incomes.

As in rural Nevada, brothel workers in these other nations are unlikely to be abused by their customers. A major reason for their relative safety is that they work indoors and that any abuse by customers might be heard or witnessed by someone else inside the brothel. In addition, brothels in many nations have implemented certain measures to ensure workers’ safety, including the provision of panic buttons, the use of listening devices, and screening of customers when they enter the brothel.

A report by the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands, where legal brothels operate, has concluded that most brothel workers say that they feel safe. A government report in New Zealand, which legalized prostitution in 2003, concluded that legalization made it more likely that prostitutes report any problems to the police and also increased their self-esteem because their behavior was now legal. A government commission in Australia that evaluated legal brothels in the northeastern state of Queensland concluded, “There is no doubt that licensed brothels provide the safest working environment for sex workers in Queensland…Legal brothels now powering in Queensland provide a sustainable model for a healthy, crime-free, and safe legal licensed brothel industry.”

Assessing all these nations’ experiences, sociologist Ronald Weitzer concluded that “legal prostitution, while no panacea, is not inherently dangerous and can be structured to minimize risks and empower workers.” The United States, then, has much to learn from the other Western democracies that have legalized prostitution.

Sources: Weitzer, 2009, 2012

Key Takeaways

• Prostitution has existed since ancient times and continues to be common today around the world. The United States had legal brothels before 1920, and legal brothels are found today in rural counties in Nevada.
• Many people oppose prostitution because they feel it is immoral or because they feel it degrades and victimizes women. Because prostitution usually involves consensual behavior, some scholars say it should not be illegal in a society that values a right to privacy.
• Some scholars also say that laws against prostitution do more harm than good and in particular account for the various problems that streetwalkers experience.

For Your Review

• Do you think prostitution should become legal and regulated? Why or why not?
• The major difference between prostitution and sex resulting from a casual pickup involves whether money is exchanged. Write an essay in which you first take the “pro” side on the following debate question, and then take the “con” side: that prostitution is worse than sex from a casual pickup.

Barry, K. (1996). The prostitution of sexuality . New York, NY: New York University Press.

Brewer, D. D., Potterat, J. J., Garrett, S. B., Muth, S. Q., John M. Roberts, J., Kasprzyk, D., et al. (2000). Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97 , 12385–12388.

Bullough, V. L., & Bullough, B. (1977). Sin, sickness, and sanity: A history of sexual attitudes . New York, NY: New American Library.

Bullough, V. L., & Bullough, B. (1987). Women and prostitution: A social history . Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.

Clinard, M. B., & Meier, R. F. (2011). Sociology of deviant behavior (14th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

Davis, K. (1937). The sociology of prostitution. American Sociological Review, 2 , 744–755. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2011). Crime in the United States, 2010 . Washington, DC: Author.

McCaslin, J. (1999, October 13). Vaginal politics. Washington Times , p. A8.

Meier, R. F., & Geis, G. (2007). Criminal justice and moral issues . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Ordway, R. (1995, May 26). Relaxation spas perplex officials. The Bangor Daily News , p. 1.

Ringdal, N. J. (2004). Love for sale: A world history of prostitution (R. Daly, Trans.). New York, NY: Grove Press.

Rosen, R. (1983). The lost sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900–1918 . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univesity Press.

Stanford, S. (1966). The lady of the house . New York, NY: G. P. Putnam.

Weitzer, R. (2009). Sociology of sex work. Annual Review of Sociology, 35 (0360-0572, 0360-0572), 213–234.

Weitzer, R. (2011). Legalizing prostitution: From illicit vice to lawful business . New York, NY: New York University Press.

Weitzer, R. (2012). Prostitution: Facts and fictions. In D. Hartmann & C. Uggen (Eds.), The Contexts reader (pp. 223–230). New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Social Problems Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

The Myth of the Happy Hooker: Kantian Moral Reflections on a Phenomenology of Prostitution

• First Online: 02 April 2019

Cite this chapter

• Clelia Smyth 9 &
• Yolanda Estes 10  

Part of the book series: Library of Public Policy and Public Administration ((LPPP,volume 12))

1188 Accesses

This essay represents an attempt to bring prostitutes’ and clients’ voices into the philosophical discourse about prostitution. We wish to add the voices of individual prostitutes and clients in order to expand the contemporary philosophical understanding of prostitution as a complex and problematic ethical concern. The first section of this essay explains the concepts of subjectivity, sexuality, and violence that underpin our analysis of prostitution. The second section scrutinizes the prostitute’s and client’s motivating goals and the means they use to accomplish them. The third, and final, section presents a phenomenological description of prostituted sex from the prostitute’s and client’s respective viewpoints.

Reprinted material from Clelia Smyth Anderson & Yolanda Estes: “The Myth of the Happy Hooker: Kantian Moral Reflection on a Phenomenology of Prostitution,” in Violence Against Women : Philosophical Perspectives. Stanley G. French, Wanda Teays, and Laura M. Purdy, eds. Copyright © 1998 by Cornell University. Used by permission of the publisher, Cornell University Press.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Afterword Insisting on “both/and”: Artifacts of Excavating the Moral Panics of Sexuality

Prostitution

Sexual Misconduct in the Church: What Is it about?

We do not discuss the present legal status of prostitution, since the problematic aspects of prostitution do not depend on its criminality. In fact, strong argument could be offered in defense of decriminalizing prostitution, but we do not offer it here. If prostitution were decriminalized, then at least some threats to the lives and health of prostitutes might be mitigated: they might have legal recourse when they became victims of coercion, theft, and assault.

On the origins of prostitution and the need for a theory of prostitution see Jaggar (1980: 348–68). For a comparison of prostitution in different societies see Shrage (1994). For a discussion on the role of prostitution and marriage in patriarchal, capitalist society see Pateman (1988). For a discussion of the need for prostitutes to assume a subject position in philosophical discourse on prostitution see Bell (1994).

In the original version of this essay, we did not reveal that this account was heavily informed by Yolanda Estes’s experience as a prostitute and her personal relations with other sex workers.

Although not an empirical investigation, this essay depends on empirical observation. It is informed by the art, literature, and self-descriptions of prostitutes. In order to protect the privacy of these women, specific details of these conversations and the identities of the women themselves will remain confidential. We hope to convey a sense of the pain and struggle that traditional modes of empirical investigation often fail to capture.

Our moral reflections are “Kantian” insofar as we presuppose basic Kantian notions of human dignity and morality, as well as particular views about freedom, recognition, subjectivity, and objectification that are rooted in German Idealism. Although we assume a Kantian approach to morality, we do not mean to imply that this essay represents Kant’s account of women, sexuality, or prostitution.

The phenomenological portion of this paper should not be confused with a phenomenology in the traditional Husserlian sense. “Phenomenology” in this context refers to a descriptive account of an individual’s, or individuals’, experience rather than a generalized account of experience. Such an account is perspectival by definition.

Potential forms of prostitution falling under this definition include kissing booths, pornography, some marriage relationships, some dating relationships, many labor relationships, and so on. We do not argue that these diverse activities constitute prostitution.

Many feminists, for instance Alison Jaggar, Catharine MacKinnon, Carole Pateman, and Sarah Wynter, argue that prostitution exists solely in a context of sexual oppression and misogyny. Jaggar suggests that even male prostitution reflects the fundamental misogynist character of society, that male prostitutes are feminized to the extent that they are prostituted. We agree that prostitution involves misogynist, sexist elements and serves as an instrument of domination, but we would maintain that it reflects a larger problem of oppression of which sexism and misogyny represent a subset.

Kant’s “Principle of Humanity,” a formulation of the Categorical Imperative, states: “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end” (Kant 1964 : 96). Actions should not merely consider humanity as an end in itself but should promote this end. To be sure, promoting the moral perfection of oneself and others is a “meritorious” rather than a “strict” duty, but it is not for that reason “optional” (ibid.: 96–97).

This concept of human subjectivity originates with Kant and is perpetuated throughout German Idealism. Fichte begins with Kant’s notion of an intelligible subject or “transcendental I” and argues that it appears in consciousness through the empirically determined, limited, embodied individual members of a social whole. According to both the Kantian and Fichtean theories of morality, rational beings such as ourselves possess dignity because they are “ends in themselves.”

In expanding on the views of Hegel, Freud, Sartre, and de Beauvoir, feminists such as Judith Butler, Iris M. Young, and Sandra Bartky have greatly enriched our understanding of the integral relationship between subjectivity and sexuality.

If Linda Lemoncheck’s clarifying variety of observations in “What’s Wrong with Being a Sex Object?” indicate the diversity of public opinion, then “objectification” has been defined in many different ways; the apparent diversity of opinion on this topic may be an indication of miscommunication rather than disparate values (Lemoncheck 1994 : 199–205). Sandra Bartky clearly states what we mean by objectification in a sexual context: “A person is sexually objectified when her sexual parts or sexual functions are separated out from the rest of her personality and reduced to the status of mere instruments or else regarded as if they were capable of representing her. On this definition then the prostitute would be a victim of sexual objectification, as would the Playboy bunny, the female breeder, and the bathing beauty” (1990: 26).

It should be self-explanatory that we violate a person’s freedom when we involve them in activities without their obvious agreement. For this reason, consent is a necessary condition of sexual relations according to the implications of most classical moral theories. To assume that consent is a sufficient condition for morally acceptable sexual relations, however, seems a reckless moral attitude.

We suffer when we must engage in undesired activities, and we suffer when our desires are ignored or unfulfilled. Most moral theories, including the Kantian, admit that we are allowed to act according to some desires and that we ought to take others’ desires into consideration as well.

In this context, “concern” does not mean a type of emotional sympathy, but simply a moral regard for the integrity of others’ interests, which include their needs, desires, and projects as well as their moral well-being.

Many sexual abusers attempt to justify their actions by claiming that their victims “really” wanted, needed, or enjoyed the sexual encounter. Some claim to feel genuine concern and affection for their victims, which reveals that even the abuser recognizes the significance of concern and desire within sexual relations.

An article in Playboy concurs with this analysis. In “The Rules of the Game,” James R. Peterson cites Al Goldstein’s explanation of why men seek the services of prostitutes:

Of all the commentators, Screw publisher Al Goldstein was most honest, reporting a story about the night he spent $1000 on an escort. “It was splendid, rollicking sex. When it was over I felt like willing my body to science. And then she left. She left. As the supreme final act in our opera of fucking, her leaving was like a cherry on a sundae, a sumptuous dessert after a seven course meal, a plunge into cool water after running a marathon. That’s when I had my glistening realization. I realized I wasn’t paying this woman for sex. I was paying her for the luxury of her leaving after sex”. (Peterson 1995 : 52)

The issue is that their fiduciary agreement is intended to excuse him from any obligation. If in fact he assumes some responsibility, it is viewed as an act of generosity rather than as a duty.

Kant, Immanuel. 1964. Groundwork on the metaphysics of morals . Scranton: HarperCollins.

Google Scholar  

Lemoncheck, Linda. 1994. What’s wrong with being a sex object? In Living with contradictions: Controversies in feminist social ethics , ed. Alison M. Jaggar. Boulder: Westview.

Mill, John Stuart. 1970. The subjection of women. In Essays on sex equality , ed. A.S. Rossi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Pateman, Carole. 1994. What’s wrong with prostitution? In Living with contradictions: Controversies in feminist social ethics , ed. Alison M. Jaggar. Boulder: Westview.

Peterson, James R. 1995. The rules of the game, Playboy , October.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

College of Education, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Clelia Smyth

Mississippi State University (retired), Starkville, MS, USA

Yolanda Estes

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clelia Smyth .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Philosophy and Applied Ethics, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Wanda Teays

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Smyth, C., Estes, Y. (2019). The Myth of the Happy Hooker: Kantian Moral Reflections on a Phenomenology of Prostitution. In: Teays, W. (eds) Analyzing Violence Against Women. Library of Public Policy and Public Administration, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05989-7_18

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05989-7_18

Published : 02 April 2019

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-05988-0

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-05989-7

eBook Packages : Religion and Philosophy Philosophy and Religion (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

To Protect Women, Legalize Prostitution

by | Oct 1, 2019 | Amicus , Criminal Justice , Labor and Employment , Sex Equality |

Prostitution is a sensitive subject in the United States. Frequently, arguments against prostitution center around concern for the health and safety of women, and those concerns are not unfounded. Prostitution is an incredibly dangerous profession for the (mostly) women involved; sexual assault, forced drug addiction, physical abuse, and death are common in the industry. For the women who work in this field, it is often very difficult to get help or get out. Many sex workers were sold into sex trafficking at a very young age and have no resources with which to escape their forced prostitution, or started out as sex workers by choice only to fall victim to sex trafficking later on. Moreover, since prostitution is illegal in most places in the United States, there are few legal protections in place for prostitutes; many fear that seeking help will only lead to arrest, and many who do seek help are arrested and then have to battle the stigma of a criminal record while they try to reintegrate into society.

So why is the response to such a dangerous industry to drive it further underground, away from societal resources and legal protections?

When people argue prostitution should be illegal, in many cases their concern comes from a place of morality , presented as concern for the health and safety of women. People believe that legalizing prostitution will only lead to the abuse of more women, will make it harder for prostitutes to get out of the industry, or will teach young women that their bodies exist for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation by men.

However, legalizing prostitution has had positive benefits for sex workers across Europe . The most well-known country to have legalized prostitution is the Netherlands , where sex work has been legal for almost twenty years. Bringing the industry out of the black market and imposing strict regulations has improved the safety of sex workers. Brothels are required to obtain and renew safety and hygiene licenses in order to operate, and street prostitution is legal and heavily regulated in places like the Red Light District . Not only does sex work become safer when it is regulated, but legalization also works to weed out the black market that exists for prostitution, thereby making women safer overall. Also, sex workers are not branded as criminals, so they have better access to the legal system and are encouraged to report behaviors that are a danger to themselves and other women in the industry. Finally, legalizing sex work will provide many other positive externalities , including tax revenue, reduction in sexually transmitted diseases, and reallocation of law enforcement resources.

It’s true that current efforts by various European countries to legalize prostitution have been far from perfect. In the Netherlands, certain components of the legislation , such as requiring sex workers to register and setting the minimum age for prostitution at 21, could drive more sex workers to illegal markets. Not only that, but studies indicate that legalizing prostitution can increase human trafficking.  However, even those who are critical about legalizing prostitution can recognize the benefits that legislation can have on working conditions for sex workers. If countries with legislation in place spend more time listening to current sex workers, the results of decriminalizing prostitution include bringing safety, security, and respect to a demographic that has traditionally been denied such things.

The underlying reason that people are uncomfortable listening to sex workers about legalizing prostitution has nothing to do with concern for the health and safety of women. If that were the genuine concern, prostitution would be legal in the United States by now. The underlying reason people disagree with legalizing prostitution is that prostitution is viewed as amoral because it involves (mostly) women selling their bodies for financial gain. However, telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies does not come from a place of morality: that comes from a place of control.

People, especially women, sell their bodies for financial gain in legalized fashions on a daily basis. Pornography is legal, and so is exotic dancing. It’s common for people to have sexual relationships with richer partners so as to benefit from their wealth, whether this is through seeking out wealthy life partners or through the less formal but increasingly prevalent phenomenon known as sugar-dating . It’s also common for people to remain in unhappy relationships because they do not want to lose financial stability or spend money on a divorce.

So, what’s the difference? Why are these examples socially acceptable, even encouraged, but prostitution is seen as so appalling?

The difference is that in all of these other situations, it is easy for people to pretend that the women involved are not actually selling their bodies directly. It’s easy to pretend that the pornography actors are just people having consensual sex that the viewing public just happens to be privy to observing . It’s easy to pretend that exotic dancers are not actually selling their bodies because they are not directly engaging in the act of sex. It’s easy to pretend that people who enter into or remain in sexual relationships with wealthy partners could be there for reasons other than financial gain or security.

Prostitution does not allow the general public to have the benefit of these pretenses. Rather, the industry is honest about how sex and money are directly related. And for many individuals, this is an uncomfortable notion. It is even more uncomfortable for some people to believe that women should be allowed to have the control over their bodies that would permit them to engage in prostitution voluntarily; they cannot allow themselves to believe that women would choose such a profession. Yet rather than recognize this reality, those who oppose the legalization of prostitution march forth with arguments about concern for the safety of women. They fail to realize that criminalizing prostitution does not help sex workers, and their arguments lead to legislation that harms women while operating under the morally-driven guise of wanting to protect them.

Instead of forcing sex workers to conduct their business in unregulated black markets where their lives are in danger, all for a mislabeled purpose of “saving” women, take actual action to save women. Legalize prostitution, impose strict regulations, and construct comprehensive support systems that allow sex workers to do their jobs safely.

The desire to protect women from sexual abuse will always be valid, and if anything is a desire that should be more widespread in the United States. What is disingenuous is opposing legalized sex work for reasons that purport to be women’s safety, but that are actually coming from a place of discomfort over women openly engaging in sexual interactions for financial gain. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of women having sex for money, then you should also have a problem with pornography, exotic dancing, and people dating for money. If you do not have a problem with all of these socially accepted practices but have a problem with prostitution because it is “morally questionable,” then you have lost your right to any forum where decisions about the safety and rights of women are being made.

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Prostitution: Pathways, Problems and Prevention

Archival notice.

This is an archive page that is no longer being updated. It may contain outdated information and links may no longer function as originally intended.

Researchers are helping to find solutions to prostitution and its violent, sometimes deadly, repercussions and associated problems such as neighborhood blight, drug abuse and spread of infectious disease.

Policymakers and law enforcement officials use the research to:

• Set up intervention programs for prostitutes.
• Improve homicide investigations.
• Examine the relative costs and benefits of focusing on arresting prostitutes versus arresting their "clients."

Pathways to Prostitution

Women often enter street prostitution as minors. Many are recruited into prostitution by force, fraud or coercion. Some women need money to support themselves and their children; others need money to support their drug habits.

Abuse is a common theme in the lives of prostitutes — many were abused as children, either physically or sexually or both. Many street prostitutes are running away from an abusive situation.

Even when street prostitutes try to leave the streets, they often return to prostitution because their limited education and lack of skills make finding employment very difficult. Without a means to support themselves and their children, they may think staying on the streets is less risky than leaving prostitution.  [1]

Men who use Prostitutes

Studies about male clients of female prostitutes have focused on:

• How the clients compare to the general male population.
• Whether they are violent.
• Whether arresting them deters future visits to prostitutes.

Research has shown that men who visit prostitutes:

• Are substantially deterred from future visits by arrest.
• Are not highly deviant or crime-involved.
• Feel entitled to sex with prostitutes if they are not being satisfied by a conventional partner.
• Do not express opinions that support violence against women.

Men who are violent toward prostitutes:

• Are likely to have a criminal past.
• Are likely to have a history of violent offenses, rape and property crime.

Learn more from the full report  Clients of Prostitute Women: Deterrence, Prevalence, Characteristics, and Violence (pdf, 187 pages).

Reducing Demand for Prostitution

Most prostitutes are women. Their clients, commonly called "johns," are almost all men.

Most arrests associated with prostitution are arrests of the women; about 10 percent are arrests of the men who purchase commercial sex.

There are several approaches to reducing the demand for prostitution. These include public awareness and education campaigns, neighborhood watch programs, and efforts by law enforcement (such as Web and street-level reverse stings, surveillance cameras, and publicizing the names and photos of johns. However, to date the only strategies qualifying as "evidence-based practices" are arrest  [2] and programs, called "john school," that make customers aware of the negative consequences of prostitution. [3]

In San Francisco's john school, (the official name is the First Offender Prostitution Program), first-time offenders who agree to pay the fee and attend a one-day workshop have the charges against them dropped if they avoid rearrest for another prostitution offense for a year after they attend the class.

Learn more about the  First Offender Prostitution Program in San Francisco .

An NIJ-funded evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program reported that the program:

• Produced positive shifts in attitude.
• Reduced the number of repeat johns.
• Was cost-effective.

Over the last 12 years, the program has cost taxpayers nothing because the fees that are paid by the convicted person cover all direct costs for educating the johns. The program has also generated nearly $1 million for programs that help prostitutes start another life.

This program has been successfully replicated in other cities and counties.

Read the complete evaluation of the  First Offender Prostitution Program in San Francisco (pdf, 246 pages) .

Murder of Prostitutes

Researchers have studied homicides of street prostitutes to see if crimes involving one victim (single homicide) differed from those involving two or more victims murdered by the same person (serial homicides).

A 2001 study found that serial murderers:

• Were almost always motivated by sex.
• Were more sexually aggressive.
• Had deviant sexual interests and active sexual fantasies.
• More frequently planned their activities, such as moving victims to a preselected area or taking clothing from the victim's body.
• Engaged in rituals and body mutilation.

This study has helped law enforcement officials identify suspects and conduct more efficient investigations.

The profile of the victims was similar in both types of homicides. Most victims were:

• In their late 20s to early 30s.
• African American (60 percent).
• Working in high-crime areas.
• Abused both "on the job" and in their personal lives.
• Involved in prostitution to support a drug habit.

Read the complete report  When Silenced Voices Speak: An Exploratory Study of Prostitute Homicide (pdf, 500 pages) .

[note 1]  Michael Scott and Kelly Dedel, Street Prostitution, 2nd Edition, Office of Community Oriented Policing, November 2006, NCJ 216620.

[note 2]  Brewer, Devon D., John J. Potterat ; Stephen Q. Muth ; John M. Roberts, Jr.,  A Large Specific Deterrent Effect of Arrest for Patronizing a Prostitute , sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, grant no. 2003-IJ-CX-1036, Washington, DC, National Institute of Justice, 2006.

[note 3] Shively, Michael, Sarah Kuck Jalbert, Ryan Kling, William Rhodes, Peter Finn, Chris Flygare, Laura Tierney, Dana Hunt, David Squires, Christina Dyous, and Kristin Wheeler,  Final Report on the Evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program (pdf, 246 pages) , Final report to the National Institute of Justice, grant no. 2005-DD-BX-0037. March 2008, NCJ 221894.

Cite this Article

Read more about:.

Essay About Prostitution

This sample essay on Essay About Prostitution provides important aspects of the issue and arguments for and against as well as the needed facts. Read on this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Prostitution forms an age-worn but interesting chapter in the history of civilization and presents an important problem for modern society. All civilized countries have offered solutions, none of which are satisfactory, and only a few of them have even modified its baneful influence. We commonly speak of prostitution as being the oldest of the professions, but in the light of historical investigation, this is hardly in keeping with the truth.

In order to understand the social construction of ‘prostitution’, we begin with common definitions from The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (1989).

In the English language, the word ‘prostitute’ can be used in several ways. Prostitute can be used as a noun: ‘A woman who is devoted, or (usually) who offers, her body to indiscriminate sexual intercourse, esp. for hire: a common harlot’ (OED, 1989a, p.

673) or a verb: ‘To offer (oneself or another) to unlawful, esp. indiscriminate sexual intercourse, usually for hire; to devote or expose to lewdness (Chiefly refl. of a woman)’ (OED, 1989a, p. 673) Dictionary descriptors of ‘prostitution’, the industry or practice, include ‘whoredom’ and ‘harlotry’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989a, p. 74). Prostitution is any, or a combination, or all of the following: a) sexual harassment b) rape c) battering d) verbal abuse e) domestic violence f) racial practice g) a violation of human rights h) childhood sexual abuse i) a consequence of male domination of women j) a means of maintaining male domination of women Dictionary definitions provide only part of the picture.

Proficient in: Moral

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

Discourses surrounding prostitution have varied greatly throughout time, demonstrating its dynamic conceptual nature.

Prostitution Essays

Despite these developments, particular beliefs have prevailed: for example, nineteenth-century morals have a direct influence upon the worldwide prohibition against prostitution (Perkins, 1991). The definition of a prostitute, as Rey (1851) describes her, as “a woman who allows the use of her body by any man, without distinction, for a payment, made or expected. ” Havelock Ellis says practically the same thing- “One who openly abandons her body to a number of men, without choice, for money. Both descriptions emphasize the fact that it is not the abundance of lovers which makes a woman a harlot, but the nature of her relationship with them- “The sale of the sweet name of love. ” In the suppression of individual inclinations she differs from a mistress, a concubine or a polygamous wife. The Roman jurists held that the fee had nothing to do with prostitution. It was the mingling of the sexes, the lack of an individual bond between man and woman and the universal and unrestrained gratification of sex passion that were its essential features.

The fee is always contra bonus mores and not legally collectable. The mercenary side, so prominent today, is a secondary factor, resulting from the development of civilization. Remuneration is only an inevitable corollary of the consideration that a wife is the property of a man and therefore of definite value. The Profession of prostitution,” says Parent Duchatelet (1836), “is an evil of all times and all countries, and appears to be innate in the social structure of mankind.

It will perhaps never be entirely eradicated, still all the more must we strive to limit its extent and its dangers. With prostitution itself, as with vice, crime and disease, the teacher of morals endeavors to prevent the vices, the lawgiver to prevent the crime and the physician to cure the disease. All alike know that they will never fully attain their goal but they pursue their work none the less, in the conviction that who does only a little good, yet does a great service to the weak man. The earliest discourse, based on theology and philosophy, emphasized the immorality and corruption of female souls. Nineteenth-century religious writers considered prostitution to be a ‘social evil that threatened the family as well as the social order’ (Ryan, 1997, p. 20). Prostitution later entered the closely linked medical–legal domains; criminalization of prostitution was facilitated by conceptualizing prostitution as a public health issue, stressing its role in spreading infectious diseases (Ryan, 1997).

During the 1970s, the prostitutes’ rights movement arose, which argued that prostitution represented a form of labor, comparable to other ‘helping’ professions, such as doctors, social workers or lawyers (Perkins and Bennett, 1985; Perkins, 1991). Moreover, it was also conceptualized as a contract between equals, having the effect of describing it as a commercial transaction: ‘In this view, individuals own their labor power and stand in relation to their property in their body and capacities in the same relation as their property as property owners’ (Jeffreys, 1997, p. 73) This view dominates the current reality of the adult prostitution sex industry. This has been evident by its largely visible status through maintaining ‘an important presence in political and sexual culture over the last decade’ (Sullivan, 1997, p. 201). It is alarming that the age of entry into prostitution is clearly geared toward younger and younger groups. Kathleen Mahoney, a professor of law in Calgary University, Canada argued in 1995, “How do we even conceptualize ‘juvenile’ prostitution, when the age of consent for legal sexual activity is constantly lowered, as in the Netherlands and the Philippines? The prehistoric period can, of course, supply us with little accurate knowledge. The earliest human records, about 4000 B. C. , make reference to it, but for anything of value, we must turn to comparative ethnology, where the customs of primitive people throw considerable light on the early stages. There seems no evidence that the elemental sex instinct, “the ever-raging animal in man”, as Plato called it, has been altered in the slightest degree by all the centuries of culture and education.

The advancing development of mankind in early times, brought sex attraction into close conjunction with the religious impulse, and upon this basis sprang up. A free sexual life, along with the social life, has continued to our own day. The origin of prostitution is closely connected with the rise of brothels and the development of the system of free love. No longer do all the girls, but only a certain few, offer themselves to the frequenters of “houses for men”. These few generally live in selected domiciles and are paid for their sex services.

The “common woman” also offers herself to strangers and travelers, and this may be the origin of the “hospitable prostitute”. In Africa, through the influence of slavery, practically all prostitutes were slaves. A young woman was bought, sheltered in a special hut and required to offer herself to anyone in return for a small present, the owner of the slave receiving the earnings. In Dahomey, the King was the proprietor of all these women- a case of “government control”. In ancient Egypt, Arabia and Israel the courtesan was recruited from divorced and cast-off wives who wandered about from place to place.

A study of racial development shows that prostitution exists among all aboriginal peoples where sexual intercourse is restricted or restrained, and that it is nothing more than a new form for the primitive mingling of the races. In its entire history it is a derivative from the free sexual life of primeval man. As Schurtz says, “In all places where free love is separated from passions and their satisfaction prostitution is found. ” In a civilized society, we should organize that the burden of inequalities, which underlie prostitution, should not be carried by children.

Cite this page

Essay About Prostitution. (2019, Dec 06). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/

"Essay About Prostitution." PaperAp.com , 6 Dec 2019, https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/

PaperAp.com. (2019). Essay About Prostitution . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/ [Accessed: 18 Sep. 2024]

"Essay About Prostitution." PaperAp.com, Dec 06, 2019. Accessed September 18, 2024. https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/

"Essay About Prostitution," PaperAp.com , 06-Dec-2019. [Online]. Available: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/. [Accessed: 18-Sep-2024]

PaperAp.com. (2019). Essay About Prostitution . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/paper-on-essay-about-prostitution/ [Accessed: 18-Sep-2024]

• Ethics Of Prostitution Pages: 7 (2094 words)
• Prostitution in the USA Pages: 7 (1819 words)
• Prostitution Is One of the Social Problems of Mankind Pages: 3 (635 words)
• Prostitution in Nevada Pages: 4 (985 words)
• Legal Aspects Related to Prostitution in India Pages: 3 (738 words)
• Sacred Games Murder: Violence, Prostitution and Terrors in Urban India Pages: 29 (8521 words)
• Environmental Upbringing as a percursor to prostitution  Pages: 4 (1136 words)
• Prostitution Solutions Pages: 2 (586 words)
• The Issues of Sexual Exploitation and Prostitution Pages: 2 (361 words)
• Prostitution Legalization in New Zealand: Language Diversity? Pages: 2 (367 words)

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Should Sex Work Be Decriminalized? Some Activists Say It's Time

Jasmine Garsd

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York.

Sex work is illegal in much of the United States, but the debate over whether it should be decriminalized is heating up.

Former California Attorney General and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently came out in favor of decriminalizing it , as long as it's between two consenting adults.

The debate is hardly new — and it's fraught with emotions. Opponents of decriminalization say it's an exploitative industry that preys on the weak. But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers, and would even be a public health benefit.

The Two-Way

Queen honors activist who fought to decriminalize prostitution.

RJ Thompson wants to push back against the idea that sex work is inherently victimizing. He says for him it was liberating: Thompson had recently graduated from law school and started working at a nonprofit when the recession hit. In 2008, he got laid off with no warning and no severance, and he had massive student loan debt.

Thompson became an escort. "I made exponentially more money than I ever could have in my legal profession," he says.

He says the possibility of arrest was often on his mind. And he says for many sex workers, it's a constant fear. "Many street-based workers are migrants or transgender people who have limited options in the formal economies," he says. "And so they do sex work for survival. And it puts them in a very vulnerable position — the fact that it's criminalized."

Thompson is now a human rights lawyer and the managing director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. It's among several organizations that are advocating bills to decriminalize sex work in New York City and New York state. They already have the support of various state lawmakers .

TED Radio Hour

Juno mac: how does stigma compromise the safety of sex workers.

Due to its clandestine nature in America, it's extremely hard to find reliable numbers about the sex trade. But one thing is for sure: It's a multi-billion-dollar industry. In 2007, a government-sponsored report looked at several major U.S. cities and found that sex work brings in around $290 million a year in Atlanta alone.

Economist Allison Schrager says the Internet has increased demand and supply. "Women who pre-Internet (or men) who wouldn't walk the streets or sign with a madam or an agency now can sell sex work, sometimes even on the side to supplement other sources of income," she says.

So what happens when you take this massive underground economy and decriminalize it? Nevada might offer a clue. Brothels are legal there, in certain counties.

In Shrager's book, An Economist Walks Into A Brothel , she investigated the financial workings of the Nevada brothel industry. She found that on average it's 300 percent more expensive to hire a sex worker in a Nevada brothel than in an illegal setting. Shrager thinks it's because workers and customers prefer to pay for the safety and health checks of a brothel.

"Sex work is risky for everyone," she says. "You take on a lot of risk as a customer too. And when you're working in a brothel you are assured complete anonymity. They've been fully screened for diseases."

Goats and Soda

Legalizing prostitution would protect sex workers from hiv.

But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers and could also have public health benefits.

Take the case of Rhode Island . A loophole made sex work, practiced behind closed doors, legal there between 2003 and 2009.

Baylor University economist Scott Cunningham and his colleagues found that during those years the sex trade grew. But Cunningham points to some other important findings : During that time period the number of rapes reported to police in the state declined by over a third. And gonorrhea among all women declined by 39 percent. Of course, changes in prostitution laws might not be the only cause, but Cunningham says, "the trade-off is if you make it safer to some degree, you grow the industry."

Rhode Island made sex work illegal again in 2009, in part under pressure from some anti-trafficking advocates. That's the thing: The debate about sex work always gets linked to trafficking — people who get forced into it against their will.

Economist Axel Dreher from the University of Heidelberg in Germany teamed up with the London School of Economics to analyze the link between trafficking and prostitution laws in 150 countries. "If prostitution is legal, there is more human trafficking simply because the market is larger," he says.

It's a controversial study: Even Dreher admits that reliable data on sex trafficking is really hard to find.

Human rights organizations including Amnesty International support decriminalization. Victims of trafficking might be able to ask for help more easily if they aren't afraid of having committed a crime, the groups say.

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York.

Former sex worker Cecilia Gentili says she might have been able to break free much sooner had it not been for fear of legal consequences. She left her native Argentina because she was being brutally harassed by police in her small town. She thought she'd be better off when she moved to New York, but as a transgender, undocumented immigrant, she says she had few options.

"Let's be realistic," Gentili says, "for people like me, sex work is not 'one' job option. It's the only option."

Gentili says that when police busted the drug house in Brooklyn where she was being held, she debated whether to ask for help. She figured she was in a very vulnerable position, as a trans, undocumented person. She stayed quiet.

These days Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC , an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. She's advocating for New York City and state to decriminalize sex work.

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. Jasmine Garsd/NPR hide caption

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York.

But many believe the sex industry is just fundamentally vicious and decriminalizing it will make it worse. Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services , a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. She says there's nothing that will equalize the power unbalances in the sex industry.

"The commercial sex industry is inherently [exploitative]," she says. "The folks who end up in the commercial sex industry are the folks who are the most vulnerable and the most desperate."

When she was a teenager, Lloyd sold sex in Germany, where it's legal. But she says that didn't make it any less brutal for her.

The Surprising Wishes Of India's Sex Workers

"Those power dynamics of exploitation were still there," she says. "When ... legal johns came in, they were the ones with the money."

Lloyd says she doesn't want sex workers to be persecuted or punished. But she doesn't think men should be allowed to buy sex legally. She says that would be condoning the same industry that brutalized her and the women she works with today.

But decriminalization activists say that sex work has and always will exist. And they say bringing it out of the shadows can only help.

Read more stories from NPR Business.

• prostitution
• sex trafficking

• Color Blindness Topics Topics: 49
• Animal Rights Research Topics Topics: 55
• Gender Inequality Topics Topics: 75
• Gender Equality Research Topics Topics: 77
• Homelessness Topics Topics: 151
• Social Inequality Research Topics Topics: 77
• Intersectionality Topics Topics: 58
• Domestic Violence Topics Topics: 160
• Black Lives Matter Research Topics Topics: 112
• Gender Stereotypes Paper Topics Topics: 94
• Human Trafficking Paper Topics Topics: 129
• Animal Abuse Topics Topics: 97
• Animal Cruelty Essay Topics Topics: 107
• Animal Testing Topics Topics: 111
• Gender Issues Topics Topics: 101

108 Prostitution Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on prostitution, 🔎 essay ideas on prostitution, 👍 good prostitution research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting prostitution research titles, ❓ research question about prostitution.

• Tourism and Children Prostitution in Bahamas and Asia
• Legalizing Prostitution: Arguments For and Against
• Prostitution Being Deviant: History and Theory
• Child Prostitution in Modern Society
• The Moral Value of Prostitution
• Theodore Roosevelt Reform Movements on Prostitution
• Legitimization of Prostitution
• Various Dimensions of Child Prostitution in Thailand An in-depth analysis of various dimensions of child prostitution in ‘ Baan Nua’ a slum community of Thailand. Some of the areas explored include economical and social problems
• Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution Human trafficking and its connection with prostitution remain a controversial topic, as do their perception and possible remedies.
• Prostitution: The Non-Deviant Behavior Prostitution should be considered a non-deviant behavior due to the many reasons connected with cultural and moral aspects.
• Drug and Prostitution Issues in the Local Community The present scenario concerns a patrol officer assigned to a truck stop near a major highway encountering crime and disorder problems.
• The Chicken Ranch, a Prostitution Facility The Chicken Ranch was a well-known prostitution facility in a small Texas hamlet, managed by a woman named Miss Jessie.
• Human Trafficking and Prostitution: Religious Perspective The implementation of an ideal religion is possible in the context of human trafficking and forced prostitution.
• Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in Tennessee Similar to any part of the world, sex trafficking in Tennessee is not unusual. Being illegal, it may be provided in places, such as massage and therapy parlors and nail salons.
• Prostitution vs. Human Trafficking Many people believe that making prostitution a legal activity will help raise the status of prostitutes and promote their protection.
• Prostitution: The Non-Deviant Social Phenomenon The key reason why prostitution should be reclassified as non-deviant is to provide people involved in the job with protection, equality and reduce social injustice.
• Deviant Behavior and Prostitution This provides an annotated bibliography of the six articles which aim to discuss the topics of deviant behavior and prostitution.
• Prostitution as a Social Behavior In terms of social disorganization theory, many women have no possibilities to escape prostitution because of low-class location and lack of education.
• The Damage in Permitting Prostitution There are many risks for women who practice prostitution which include STD and AIDS, unplanned pregnancy, physical violence, rape, and mental trauma, among others.
• Prostitution in the United States The paper discusses the causes of prostitution in the United States. Prostitution is a situation whereby a woman decides to practice sex with the aim of being paid in return.
• Legalization of Marijuana and Prostitution Every state should develop ways of controlling the influence of selling marijuana and prostitution before establishing a conclusion on legalizing it.
• Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime or Not? Because victimless crimes involve two contentious issues of morality and liberty, the legalization of this category of crime is always disputed on many grounds.
• Radical Feminism Explains Prostitution Radical feminists reject the idea of mental differences but see prostitution as social and economic oppression only.
• Prostitution Legalization in Canada Although legalization reduces the attractiveness of prostitution, in reality it motivates men to overindulge in the procurement of sex in a socially acceptable setting.
• Senate Bill 5: Change Penalties for Promoting Prostitution This paper aims at analyzing the Senate Bill 5 that will be enacted in Ohio and discuss its objectives, implications, and main concepts.
• Prostitution from the Moral System Perspective Prostitution degrades the integrity of women in society, promotes gender-based violence, and increases the risk for sexually transmitted infections.
• Decriminalization of Prostitution in Canada The paper discusses the negative effects of prostitution and provides an insight into the advantages of decriminalizing prostitution in Canada.
• The Nature and Characteristics of Prostitution in Ancient Rome and Pompeii
• Badges and Brothels: Police Officers’ Attitudes Toward Prostitution
• Causes, Effects, and History of Prostitution
• Female Prostitution and Women’s Rights in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century
• Economic Challenges and Drug Abuse as the Main Causes for Women’s Remaining in Prostitution
• Law Enforcement and the Perception of Prostitution in the United States
• Human Trafficking vs. Prostitution: Is There a Difference?
• Gender Perceptions and Prostitution During the Victorian Age
• Prostitution and Its Long History as a Profession
• Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health
• Analysis and Cross-Cultural History of Prostitution
• Sex and Prostitution Among Troops During the American Civil War
• Legal Prostitution: Turkey and Thailand
• Christianity and Prostitution in the Middle Ages
• Pain and Prostitution: The Evolution of Female Chastity in Ancient and Late Imperial China
• Explaining Teen Prostitution Using Sociological Theories of Deviance
• Prostitution and the Social Welfare Program for Children Affected by the Illegal Profession
• Legalizing Prostitution and the Decriminalizing Illicit Drugs to Benefit All Canadians
• It’s Time for Society to Accept Prostitution
• The Ashley Alexandra Dupre Story: A Look at Female Prostitution in the Twenty-First Century
• Prostitution: The Oldest Profession Known to Humanity
• Early Sexual Experience and Prostitution
• Local Community Attitudes Towards the Impact of Tourism on Prostitution
• Factors Determining Entry Into the Prostitution Lifestyle
• Child Pornography and Prostitution: A Question of Economics
• Prostitution: How Do the Current Law and Society Treat Women Who Are Prostitutes?
• Analyzing Social Behavior: Prostitution
• Regaining Independence and Power Through Prostitution
• Social Classes, Prostitution, and Jack the Ripper in 19th-Century England
• Sociological Theories and the Deviance of Prostitution
• Historical and Cross-Cultural Controversy About the Issue of Prostitution
• The Benefits of the Legalization of Prostitution
• Expanding Global Awareness to Regulate Prostitution
• Moving Prostitution Through the United States
• Illegal Drug Use, Illegal Prostitution, and Money Laundering
• Prostitution: Sexual Intercourse and Strong Religion Conviction
• Legalizing Prostitution and Other Sexually Oriented Business
• Causes and Issues Faced by Prostitution
• Prostitution and Ethical Values Related to It
• Decriminalizing Prostitution and Legalizing Brothels in the United States
• Factors for the Increase of Prostitution
• Child Prostitution and Pornography in Southeast Asia
• Organized Crime: Profits From Pornography and Prostitution
• Legal Prostitution and Its Effect on Society
• Patriarchy and Prostitution: Sex Trafficking in South Korea
• Human Sexuality and Abstract Prostitution
• Military Prostitution During Japan’s Imperial Rule
• Prostitution and Its Effect on Public Health
• Introspect Into the Lives of Aboriginal Women: Prostitution in Western Canada
• Feminist Theory and Women’s Prostitution
• Why Is Prostitution Illegal and Pornographic Films Are Not?
• What Was the Protestants’ Approach to Prostitution?
• What Are the Arguments in Favor of Legalizing Prostitution?
• Is Prostitution a Threat to Marriage?
• Does the Country’s GDP Change After the Legalization of Prostitution?
• Do Alcohol and Drugs Affect the Spread of Prostitution?
• What Is the Status of Prostitution in Us?
• What Is Society’s Attitude to Prostitution?
• Is Prostitution Really the Oldest Profession in the World?
• Should There Be Different Laws Concerning Male Prostitution and Female Prostitution?
• What Do You Think About Making Prostitution a Criminal Offence?
• What Are the Dangers to Society of Prostitution?
• Can Prostitution Be Considered a Profession?
• What Are the Dangers to Prostitutes of Not Legalizing Prostitution?
• How Can Governments Stop Prostitution?
• What Should the World Do to Stamp Out Child Prostitution?
• Is Prostitution a Matter of Personal Choice?
• Are There Any Benefits to Society of Prostitution?
• Why Do So Many Politicians and Movie Stars Get Involved in Prostitution Scandals?
• What Are the Different Types of Prostitution?
• Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime?
• Would Legal Prostitution Better Protect Prostitutes From Violence?
• What Is the Difference Between the Decriminalization and Legalization of Prostitution?
• Is Legal Prostitution a Legitimate Business?
• Should the Government Collect Taxes From Prostitution?
• Is Prostitution Psychologically Harmful to Prostitutes?
• Would Legal Prostitution Decrease Sexually Transmitted Diseases?
• Does Legal Prostitution Lead to Human Trafficking and Slavery?
• Is Prostitution Immoral or Demeaning?
• Is Legal Prostitution an Aspect of Sexual Liberation?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, December 30). 108 Prostitution Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/prostitution-essay-topics/

"108 Prostitution Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 30 Dec. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/prostitution-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '108 Prostitution Essay Topics'. 30 December.

1. StudyCorgi . "108 Prostitution Essay Topics." December 30, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/prostitution-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "108 Prostitution Essay Topics." December 30, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/prostitution-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "108 Prostitution Essay Topics." December 30, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/prostitution-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Prostitution were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 24, 2024 .

Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments

Should prostitution be legal.

• Should Prostitution Be Legal?
• Sex Worker Views on Legalization
• Law Enforcement Views on Legalization
• Victimless Crime?
• Morality of Prostitution
• Human Trafficking
• Prostitution & Violence
• STD Prevention
• Legitimate Business?
• Government & Taxes

People who view this page may also like:

• Should Prostitution Be Legal? Top Pro & Con Quotes
• Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option?
• Percentage of Men (by Country) Who Paid for Sex at Least Once: The Johns Chart

ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA

Natalie Leppard Managing Editor [email protected]

© 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved

• Artificial Intelligence
• Private Prisons
• Space Colonization
• Social Media
• Death Penalty
• School Uniforms
• Video Games
• Animal Testing
• Gun Control
• Banned Books
• Teachers’ Corner

Cite This Page

ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. Below are the proper citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian). Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order):

[Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries.]

[Editor’s Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries.]

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

prostitution summary

prostitution , Practice of engaging in sexual activity, usually with individuals other than a spouse or friend, in exchange for immediate payment in money or other valuables. Prostitutes may be of either sex and may engage in either heterosexual or homosexual activity, but historically most prostitution has been by females with males as clients. Prostitution is a very old and universal phenomenon; also universal is condemnation of the prostitute but relative indifference toward the client. Prostitutes are often set apart in some way. In ancient Rome they were required to wear distinctive dress; under Hebrew law only foreign women could be prostitutes; and in pre-World War II Japan they were required to live in special sections of the city. In medieval Europe prostitution was licensed and regulated by law, but by the 16th century an epidemic of venereal disease and post-Reformation morality led to the closure of brothels. International cooperation to end the traffic in women for the purpose of prostitution began in 1899. In 1921 the League of Nations established the Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children, and in 1949 the UN General Assembly adopted a convention for the suppression of prostitution. In the U.S. prostitution was first curtailed by the Mann Act (1910), and by 1915 most states had banned brothels (Nevada being a notable exception). Prostitution is nevertheless tolerated in most U.S. and European cities. In the Netherlands many prostitutes have become members of a professional service union, and in Scandinavia government regulations emphasize hygienic aspects, requiring frequent medical examination and providing free mandatory hospitalization for anyone found to be infected with venereal disease. Prostitutes are very often poor and lack other skills to support themselves; in many traditional societies there are few other available money-earning occupations for women without family support. In developing African and Asian countries, prostitution has been largely responsible for the spread of AIDS and the orphaning of hundreds of thousands of children.

The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution Opinion Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Prostitution has been illegal in many countries in the world. Despite this fact, prostitution has continued to be practiced in every capital, and other cities in every country. This being the fact the governments need to see that they are fighting a losing battle and continuous prohibition of prostitution is like chasing wind. There are many reasons that do call for the government to change its strategy and legalize prostitution. There are numerous reasons as to why the government should legalize prostitution. Some of those reasons are as follows.

When prostitution is illegal, many of those who practice it do it secretively. This makes them be exploited by their clients. They are put in every kind of abuse, yet they are afraid to report the exploiters to the authority, as they fear they may be arrested. This makes the exploiters to evade justice.

This encourages them to continue with their vice thus humiliating many innocent prostitutes. If prostitution will be legalized, prostitutes will not fear to report the clients who rape them and the exploiters will stop this menace, as they will be afraid of consequences of their actions.

Legalizing prostitution will curb the spread of HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. This is because when prostitution will be legalized prostitutes can be required to be tested for those diseases. Those found with diseases can be treated or barred from trading. The government can offer treatment to them easily as prostitutes will not be afraid to seek medication. This will be extremely beneficial as it can protect the prostitutes and their clients.

Legalization of prostitution will make the government put its resources in other beneficial activities. Governments do use a lot of money in campaigns to condemn prostitution. These resources can be put into other uses such as education or health provision in the country. Police spend a lot of time chasing and arresting prostitutes, whereas many criminals are harassing the public. With the legalization of prostitution, police will be chasing real criminals instead of harassing harmless prostitutes.

Prostitution is a source of income to those who practice it. With the current rise of unemployment in the country, it is paramount for the government to legalize prostitution. Bearing in mind that many of prostitutes have low education profile and for them to secure decent jobs is hard, prostitution need to be legalized. This would make prostitutes be respected by members of the public. This will minimize stress faced by prostitutes, which leads to other stress related crimes.

Legalization of prostitution makes the government control prostitution. The government will ensure those who practice this profession are not underage. This will assist in eliminating child prostitution. Human trafficking will decrease as many of victims trafficked are meant to participate in prostitution. With this in mind, it is crucial that those who care for children should let prostitution be legalized.

Ones body is a God’s gift, which one should not be controlled on how to use it as long as one is not infringing rights of others. Therefore, prostitutes has right to use their bodies as they see it fit without being stigmatized by law. Legalization of prostitution will make prostitution be carried out in conducive environments, which pose no danger to the prostitute and their clients.

Since today prostitution is illegal, prostitutes are not taxed, yet they earn a lot of money from the trade. Bearing in mind that taxes are the ones used to develop every country economy it is not agreeable to ignore the contribution the taxes from prostitutes can make. The government can encourage the establishment of brothels, which would make government access the taxes from prostitutes easily.

Prostitutes would be required to acquire licenses in order to commence their business. The licenses would be provided with a fee as a source of income to the government. Countries, which have legalized prostitution, are getting a lot of revenue from the sex industry. Dutch sex industry gives more than 500 million dollars annually. Countries with high population can make a lot of money from prostitution and put this revenue in their economy development.

Legalization of prostitution will help to curb incest and rape crimes. This is because the perpetrators of these crimes will not fear to seek prostitute services. Many relatives are exploiting young ones, and if prostitution is legalized the relatives are provided with an alternative to seek prostitutes’ services without being intimidated or judged. Bestiality and other harmful sexual practices will come down with legalization of prostitution.

Prostitution is a trade where buyers and sellers do it willingly. No one is forced to be the party in prostitution. This being the fact there is a need to legalize this practice because adult individuals who are responsible for their actions carry it out. Prostitution therefore, needs to be considered as any other profession carried out in the country.

The government has no choice but to legalize prostitution. Legal prostitution is the only remedy to end menace associated with prostitution. Prostitution is a practice, which is here to stay, and illegalizing makes, it is a black market trade exposing both the prostitutes and their clients to many risks. Legal trades are easy to control and manage, and if the government want to control this trade it need to legalize it.

• Organization of Abu Dhabi Police
• Ethical and Cultural Competency Issues
• Should We Legalize Marijuana For Medical Use?
• Poverty, Homelessness and Discrimination in Australia: The Case of the Aboriginal
• The Drug Policy Dilemma: To Legalize or Not to Legalize Drugs
• The Abu Dhabi Police
• Law Enforcement Race and Domestic Calls
• Ethical Problems in Corruption
• Intelligence–Led Policing
• Emergency Planning and Methodology
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, July 10). The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prostitution-legalization/

"The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution." IvyPanda , 10 July 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/prostitution-legalization/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution'. 10 July.

IvyPanda . 2019. "The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prostitution-legalization/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prostitution-legalization/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Benefits of Legalizing Prostitution." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prostitution-legalization/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Prostitution — The Moral And Legal Issue With Prostitution

The Moral and Legal Issue with Prostitution

• Categories: Prostitution

About this sample

Words: 2921 |

15 min read

Published: Dec 16, 2021

Words: 2921 | Pages: 6 | 15 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, topic analysis, bibliography.

• Ross D, 'Looking Past The Red Light: A Critical Analysis Of The Legal Treatment Of Prostitution' [2017] Birmingham Student Law Review
• Ashworth A, 'Prostitution And The Criminal Law' [2014] Criminal Law Review
• MacKinnon C, 'Prostitution And Civil Rights' (1993) 13 Michigan Journal of Gender and Law
• Feinberg J, Offense To Others: The Moral Limits Of The Criminal Law (Oxford University Press 1984)
• Mill J.S., On Liberty (2nd edn, Boston: Ticknor and Fields 1863)
• Robson J.M., The Collected Works Of John Stuart Mill, Vol. XVIII (University of Toronto Press 1977)
• McGlynn C, Ward I, 'Would John Stuart Mill Have Regulated Pornography?' (2014) 41 Journal of Law and Society
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade, 'Shifting The Burden' (APPG 2014) accessed 2 January 2018
• Matt McCormick, 'Autonomy | Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy' (iep.utm.edu, 2018) accessed 3 January 2018
• Blume J, 'Prostitution Should Be Seen As Empowering Some Women' [2005] Marie Claire
• 'Autonomy In Moral And Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)' (Plato.stanford.edu, 2003) accessed 3 January 2018
• Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament, 'Sexual Exploitation And Prostitution And Its Impact On Gender Equality' (European Parliament 2014) accessed 6 January 2018
• Government Offices of Sweden, 'Evaluation Of The Prohibition Of The Purchase Of Sexual Services 1999-2008' (Government Offices of Sweden 2010)
• Dodillet S, Östergren P, 'The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success And Documented Effects', Decriminalizing Prostitution and Beyond: Practical Experiences and Challenges. (2011)

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Law, Crime & Punishment

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

4 pages / 1783 words

4 pages / 1624 words

2 pages / 705 words

1 pages / 1357 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Prostitution

Prostitution is often glamorized in popular culture, depicted as a profession that offers quick and easy money. However, the reality is far from glamorous. The negative effects of prostitution are numerous and far-reaching, [...]

It is often asserted that money is the driving force behind the world's activities, capable of resolving any issue or purchasing any desire. This notion applies to various aspects of life. Money can be employed to rescue [...]

The majority of people around the world believe prostitution should be Treated as a crime. Perhaps you are one of them? In my opinion it should be legal. You may disagree. However, this essay might change your opinion. Granted, [...]

Prositution, or sex work, can be defined as the practice or occupation of engaging in consensual sexual activity with someone in exchange of payment, in the form of money, favors, goods, or any other benefit agreed upon by the [...]

We have a ‘duty to imagine a world without prostitution as we do a world without slavery, without apartheid, without gender-based violence, female infanticide and genital mutilation’. This statement revolves around a worldwide [...]

Illegal drug use and prostitution among women have been a problem for several years in developing nations. These practices expose them to health conditions such as malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and high blood pressure. [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free