About Prostitution

Prostitution, sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession” (Henslin, pg. 54), is defined by James M. Henslin as “the renting of one’s body for sexual purposes” (pg. 54). This arrangement, though illegal and socially deviant in most parts of the world, exists universally in many different forms (pg. 54). As a matter of fact, types of prostitutes range greatly in variety from call girls – who are said to be “the elite of prostitutes” (pg. 58), to streetwalkers – “who have the lowest status among prostitutes” (pg. 58), to sugar babies -young, physically attractive women who provide “rich, older men” (Kitchener, par.4) “…with attention (and sex) in exchange for the finer things in life” (par. 4).

Prostitution is one of the oldest and most controversial professions on earth. According to records, prostitution was a normal practice of the earliest known civilizations. Ancient Greeks and Roma governments went as far as sponsoring brothels to ensure their citizens could afford a prostitute. The emergence of religions like Christianity and Islam transformed the moral views on prostitution. Following a tremendous pressure from the religious authorities, many European countries started to ban the practice on the bases of being immoral and harmful to society. The king of Spain made prostitution punishable law. Those caught could face a harsh punishment or they could be exiled. Pope Sixths of Rome went as far as making prostitution punishable by death .Despite the laws drafted by the authorities, people continued to provide and use sexual services. In this modern era, we are still debating the ethics of prostitution. Most people claim that prostitution is morally degrading and harmful to the wellbeing of society. While others claim that legalizing prostitution can help create tax revenues, undermine organized crime and reduce the spread of disease. Using utilitarianism, virtue ethics and Kant deontology I will prove that prostitution is immoral and it should be banned.

Prostitution, also referred to as “the oldest profession,” has always been a controversial and challenging social issue. It is practiced in many different forms including: call girls, convention prostitutes, apartment prostitutes, hotel prostitutes, house prostitutes, bar girls, streetwalkers, and parking lot lizards (). Civilizations such as the Samarians, and countries including Morocco and parts of India engaged in a form of prostitution known as temple prostitution. Temple prostitution is based on the belief that “generative activity of human beings possessed a mysterious and sacred influence in promoting the fertility of nature” (Clarkson). In other civilizations, such as the Roman and Byzantine Empires, prostitution was looked upon as less of a religious ceremony, and more of a sin practiced by “women of evil life” (ProCon.org). Today those differentiating view are still present in modern society, but there are also new ideologies surrounding the everlasting presence of prostitution. This Essay will use the Symbolic Interactionism Theory to identify those new ideologies, and evaluate the meaning of prostitution within three relationship: the husband and wife, the Call girl and client, and the Pimp and the sex trafficking victim.

In a decade that will be surely known as one of grand feminist success it seems worthwhile mentioning that prostitution is a new feminist issue. According to “Women Have the Rights” many sex workers and feminist activists see the decriminalization of prostitution as a human rights initiative for women to regain control over their bodies. These third wave feminists find sex an issue that should be more widely discussed. Large leaps in pornography such as female filmmakers and feminist porn stars point to an ideal that consensual sex work is just another fore front in the battle for gender equality. Legalization of prostitution leads to more government oversight requiring

Since the beginning of time prostitution has been a part of our world 's culture, and it is said that it is the world 's oldest profession. Man has always been equally participated and felt the need to pay for services of a sexual nature since the beginning of time, whether it was legal or not. During 19th century woman who belonged to lower class family might have worked in order to support her family, in harsh times. During that time as farther away a woman moved from the mother and home, the lower her status became. Prostitution was clearly seen as disrespectful; the prostitute was at the bottom of society’s status chain. “During the late 19th- and early 20th century, the nature of society forced the working class women of Eau Claire to take advantage of any means to support themselves, including prostitution. Each woman had to decide herself which work option best supported her financially.”(Schaar.A) The wages these women earned were unbelievably low, and at times as much as 80% lower than the wages men earned. Back in those days there weren’t many jobs

Though widely accepted throughout the course of human history, the approval of prostitution in today modern society seems to be a much more grey area. While once legal in every major civilization on earth, prostitution is now illegal in many countries, though sometimes tolerated for the revenue it generates. This cold shoulder toward prostitution began in the Middle Ages, when church officials began to preach of the sins associated with the profession. Their cries, however, fell on mostly deaf ears. Prostitution had become such a large contributor of public revenue in so many countries, that is was protected and regulated by law. In the centuries to come, however, things began to change. With the rise of stringent sexual morality standards associated with the Protestant Reformation, the increased transmission and awareness of sexually transmitted diseases and the implementation of such social movements as feminism, prostitution began to fall out of favor, eventually becoming illegal in many parts of the world. (Jenkins).

Burstyn highlights that these changes altered the social and economic role of women during the nineteenth-century . She goes on to point out that there were great pressures on middle-class women not to work during this period and explains that ‘leisure women’ were symbols of the economic success of their male relatives . Burstyn suggests that marriage was vital for a woman as it was argued men needed to protect women because of their physical weakness . According to the ideal of womanhood, the home became a place where only women spent their lives and thus the ideal woman was morally pure and a guardian of the home . Burstyn also considers the contemporary issue of education for women by suggesting that if women were to become financially independent, they may no longer have the desire to marry for economic stability . If women remained unmarried, then men would, in theory, be forced to gain sexual gratification from the ‘Social Evil’: prostitutes . In the nineteenth century, the term ‘prostitute’ was used in a much wider context to how we would use it today. Judith Flanders explains that it referred to women who: were living with men outside marriage, had had illegitimate children, or women who perhaps had relations with men, but for pleasure rather than money . It is important to

Prostitution is a subject whom many people today have vocal opinions about if it should be legalized and is it moral? Can you imagine how people felt about prostitutes in the 19th century? Today people think the worst possible things of a woman who prostitutes herself and a less rigid view of women’s sexuality exists now almost two centuries later than there was then. In 2011 men and women can have a different view of prostitution and distinctive ways to correct the problem. Men today as they did almost 200 years ago would like to see prostitution legalized and regulated. Women still see prostitution as they did a moral issue that needs reformed. The data suggests that few things have changed when it comes to the punishment and

There is a widespread discrepancy in the definition of prostitution, most would agree that it is: sexual in nature, and the compensation for performing the sexual act is either money or other material goods; however, these transactions vary, ranging from specified sexual acts and goods, which can be exchanged to broader context. These transactions occur in the street, bawdyhouse, massage parlour, and inside private residences or hotels.

Prostitution, as stated by Flemming, is known as a form of sexual activity, a kind of sexual style or category, and a form of economic activity, a way of making a living through the provisions of certain services, by behaving in accordance with, or falling into such a category (39). This definition, though, is controversial. While conducting research for this project, we found that most topics regarding prostitution and its affiliates were controversial. Each author gave a differing interpretation for the same data. Due to this, our project centered on the female prostitutes, even though there is evidence of male prostitutes.

Prostitution is defined as the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been around since the beginning of human society. The first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). It is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with different ways to exchange sexual services for payment and many different types of prostitutes. One of these types of prostitutes are brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized or is legalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.

Prostitution, the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been seen since the beginning of human society; the first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). Also, prostitution is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with many different types of prostitutes and different ways to exchange sexual services for payment. An example of a type of prostitute is brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.

Prostitution is the act of engaging in sexual activity for financial gain. It is described as one of the oldest profession and one of the most controversial issues in the modern society. In the ancient world, prostitution was allowed as part of religious traditions in some cultures such as Greek where prostitutes were dedicated to gods. Today prostitution has become more open, and some countries such as Bulgaria and Netherlands have legalized the practice. In the recent past, ethics of prostitution have been debated with many people claiming that it is morally wrong. However, like all other controversial practices, prostitution has continued to thrive in the society as evidenced by recent headlines. In this paper, I will argue that prostitution is not morally permissible despite being around for thousands of years. Prostitution is an immoral transaction that has brought many negative impacts such as community policy issues, health issues, and religious issues.

In terms of sociology, Prostitution is a way for an individual to maximize their monetary intake or in other words “benefits” by selling the thing that they have readily, their bodies. In other words, it is the act or practice of participating in promiscuous sexual activity especially for money. Prostitution has been in existence for ages, going back to the Byzantine, Roman, Greek, and Egyptian Empires. Ironically, the ancient religions of those eras dealt with the needs of the group and consequently developed protocols for dealing with sexual relations that have propagated throughout time to the modern era. As a result, prostitution is not about to disappear anytime soon, despite relatively recent local laws. Also throughout centuries,

Prostitution has frequently been touted as the world's oldest profession, for the simple fact that it has been prevalent in society for quite some time. In order to properly discuss the many social ramifications of this particular crime and possible ways for dealing with them, it is first necessary to define prostitution and to explore the reason why it is a crime. Prostitution is the exchange of money or monetary assets for sexual favors and pleasure. It is the paying for sex in all of its myriad facets, from conventional coitus to a number of lewd and arcane acts from which people derive pleasure. Prostitution is part of the sex industry, which includes legal business such as strip clubs (Weitzer 7). There are a couple of different reasons as to why exchanging money for sex is deemed illegal. One principle reason is that if it were legalized, it would be exceedingly difficult for the government to tax and to capitalize off it, which is one of the reasons in which marijuana is widely considered illegal. More importantly, however, prostitution is illegal because it promotes the objectification of women and their bodies, and inherently reduces the degree of parity between men and women in which the latter are viewed as things simply for the fulfillment of men's sexual desires. Additionally, there are a variety of noxious activities that accompany prostitution such as trafficking in which the will of another is subjected to someone else's.