Introduction
Surrounded by Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos, Cambodia has a population reaching slightly over 15 million people as of 2013. With a fair amount of coastline on the Gulf of Thailand, the southeast Asian nation has a rich history of agricultural societies, civil wars, and conflicts between nearby nations. Recovering from a civil war that ended in the mid 1970’s, Cambodia was recorded to have the highest rate of HIV in Asia as of the early 1990’s, with nearly sixty percent of its sex workers infected. By the mid 1990’s, the AIDS epidemic was blowing out of control in Cambodia, with drastically increasing numbers of new infections. This crisis lead to the request for international assistance by Cambodia’s government, which was
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Due to inconsistent use of condoms and an abundance of sexual partners, sex workers are ten times more likely to become infected with HIV than other adults. Oftentimes, clients will either refuse to pay for sex if a condom is used or will use violence as a way to intimidate a worker into not using a condom. In other cases, a client may offer more money to a prostitute that agrees to not use a condom, and for a woman trying to support a family the risk is often taken. Whether by choosing to become a prostitute or by being sold into the sex trade, workers have struggled to have access to condoms, have had very little power in negotiating condom use, and are often subjected to violence. Men that pay for sex are the bridge from the sex workers to the general population, by contracting diseases from the workers and spreading them to their wives and partners (Equality Now, 2009).
Problem description
Partially due to a culture that frowns upon premarital sex and promiscuity, the spread of HIV from sex workers to the rest of the population is an easy exchange, resulting in thousands of new cases of infection every year. Sex workers are affordable and willing to engage in riskier acts for more money to help support their families, therefore married men are some of the most frequent clients to both brothels and to independent sex work. These men will then pay extra or intimidate the workers into not using a condom,
The sex industry alone produces $99 billion in illegal profits2, making it one of the largest slave trade industries in the world. Victims are forced to work in this commercial industry against their will, and are constantly subjected to physical and emotional violence, which takes advantage of their economic, physical, and psychological vulnerability. To ensure they don’t escape, victims are kept locked in their rooms, and are constantly threatened and beaten by their traffickers. Their traffickers or pimps will also take hold of any forms of identification and justify their bondage on the victims by saying they have to repay the ‘debt’ they owe them, making it impossible for victims to
Prostitution is a controversial issue that has been around since the beginning of time and has recently became a major problem in today’s society. Prostitution is defined as the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. Prostitution is often times referred to as “the oldest profession in the business”. It is prohibited in several countries, the United States included, though in some countries it is accepted and is legal in many others. Today, prostitution is so controversial because of the number of youth involved in it. Those who oppose prostitution are against it because it endangers a big portion of women with diseases and can also be considered as a form of slavery. Due to the fact that prostitution increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, while also destroying the image of areas it has heavily polluted, along with the morality of the women involved in it, it is seen as a practice that needs to be done away with, or mandated by the government.
Policies and laws fail to stop prostitution, and it will not stop. It is more costly to keep prostitution illegal. Prostitutes will be more vulnerable to getting criminal records, which then makes it harder for them in society, to obtain legal jobs. Also, with prostitution being illegal the workers may not be able to protect themselves from crimes against them. As prostitution is not legal, then they have to find discreet places to work, which usually is not in a safe environment. If some kind of crime against them did happen, they may feel that, they aren’t able to go to the police for help, as their work is illegal. It actually makes it harder on the worker, in turn making it harder for the client. There are all sorts of people who turn to prostitutes. From blue collar workers to high executives of companies, business owners and more. With prostitution being illegal, the clients are facing criminal charges as well. This does not only hurt the client, but communities as well. The author believes that people around the world have changed their older views and sexual norms to adapt to a more modern society. Brents, B.A., Jackson, C.A., & Hausbeck, K. (2010) concludes that prostitution is better being legalized than being criminalized (p.233). And with this change, people should reevaluate and learn from Nevada’s policies on prostitution being legal. While the author has shown many reasons why
With no government control or regulation, work-place violence, harassment, and medical care are not monitored or concerned, even though this line of work is the most vulnerable to all three conditions. In fact, nearly seventy-five percent of sex-workers experience work-place violence. For this, “decriminalization could be the best means to protect the rights of sex workers and ensure that these individuals receive adequate medical care, legal assistance, and police protection” (Amnesty International). Along with Amnesty International, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world, the World Health Organization, UN Women, Global Commission on HIV and the law, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Foundations also support the decriminalization of prostitution in the United States. Criminalizing prostitution will not end prostitution. Instead, the only plausible solution is government regulation. With government support, clients can be tracked through credit cards and any violence or harassment will be able to be reported and taken care of, on a legal level. The sex-work industry also has alarming statistics involving STI’s and STD’s. The men who control the women, or the ‘pimps’, force the women to have oral, vaginal, and anal sex without any kind of contraception, if that is what the client prefers. The Porn Industry,
People may not believe that there is a positive outcome of prostitution when first thought of. In fact, there are multiple ways that prostitution can benefit the sex workers, society, and even the economy. A quantitative and qualitative study was made by Lutnik and Cohan in San Francisco on prostitutes in the area. Although the sex workers that were interviewed are not part of the Canadian society, the United States is also part of the Western Civilization and the results reflect those of Canada as well. In the study, women spoke about the beneficial factors of having “police protection, the ability to build community with other sex worker, and obtaining rights as workers” upon the legalization of prostitution (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 41). Overall, the prostitutes that were surveyed preferred the “removal of statutes that criminalize sex work in order to facilitate a social and political environment where they had legal rights and could seek help when they are victims of violence.” (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 39). This research provides evidence that majority of people in the sex worker industry would like to feel safer as they are working as every person is entitles to feel safe when they go to work. Considering the health of the sex workers, a study was presented at the International AIDS Conference in Australia which showed results of the transmittal of HIV/AIDS among sex workers would decrease by 33-46% if prostitution is either legalized, or at least decriminalized (Listland, 2014). Another factor that is considered regarding sex workers and the legalization is the diminishing of violence and sex crimes. In the same research study conducted by Lutnik and Cohan, it was found that 91% of prostitutes desired laws that protected their rights in specific, and they also wanted more police protection, create safe houses, and would be safest under a regulated system (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 41, 43). Lastly, a
It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,
There exists a country in Southern Asia, known as Cambodia. This is a small and poor country that experienced dramatic changes in the past century. The Cambodian, or Khmer, society was a very capitalistic country consisted a small population of the rich and a large majority of the poor. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor proved to be fatal. This unreliable economic system soon became the cause of the Khmer Civil War in 1967. This civil war was started by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), who later renamed themselves to Khmer Rouge. Led by Pol Pot, this Kampuchea party was made up of mainly the lower and middle class who greatly despised the rich, who they believed shared a narcissistic view and an extreme corruption. The Khmer Rouge was able to defeat the Khmer Republic and took over
The first chapter of this book details what Raymond believes to be the most dangerous myths surrounding sex work, or prostitution as she refers to it. The first point she makes is that “Prostitution is Inevitable.” She claims that this is “the most senseless argument in defense of maintaining the system of prostitution” (Raymond, 2013, p. 2). Raymond backs her claim by explaining that this idea stems from the patriarchy from a time when women were objects. Raymond then continues on to berate the mindsets that say that sex work cannot or should not be banned because the safety of the worker has to be taken into consideration. She compares the “harm reduction” mentality to the same mentality that tobacco industry claimed to be using filtered cigarettes.
To start off, although many people are aware that Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Sexually Transmitted Infections are real most of them forget about the protection needed against any. The women and men involved in prostitution do not get to worry about that kind of protection. The health risks involved are brutal and dangerous. “Sex-work communities around the world are in dire need of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services” (Doyle 1). It is not unheard of that, the current prostitution rings do not care about these diseases, in fact “a meeting of sex workers held at the International AIDS Conference heard that the criminalization of the profession was fueling secretive transactions and unsafe sex practices, putting people at risk of HIV and
Cambodia experienced mass death, approximately 1.7 million lives, during the Cambodian genocide of 1975 through 1979. The Khmer Rouge regime dominated the Cambodian government and attempted to purge the population of intellectuals, professionals and supporters of the original government. In an attempt to better the country’s economic standing at a horrendously rapid rate, the country instead experienced mass destruction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the various ways devastation was brought upon Cambodia and how it affected the populace. In the 1950’s the country was engulfed by the civil war north and south Vietnam was waging after gaining independence from France. The battlefield of the war overflowed into Cambodia and caused physical
The sex industry is highly divided between those who call themselves “sex workers”, and former prostitutes who call themselves “survivors” (Glazer 340). Women should have the right to choose what they do for a living, including prostitution. The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.
There are many inquires that arise with the subject matter of sex work. Prostitution or sex work is dramatically different internationally than in the United States. One of the primary motives is due to poor economic conditions or undesirable social circumstances in life. Also, in some instances children may be involuntarily introduced into sex work by their relatives in exchange for currency for their personal survival. This practice is used as a revenue of survival, the money obtained from their clienteles is what nourishes their bodies and gives shelter to their household. However, this behavior and business is quite dangerous due to the gamble of contracting a sexual transmitted disease such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus also commonly
Of the six themes in the ethnography of prostitution presented by Sterk in the article, I believe that the impact of the AIDS epidemic on the women’s lives are most important. Society does not accept prostitutes and believe that they are open to the fact of having unprotected sex with numerous partners. This is not the case at all. These women are very careful and force their partners to use protection at all times. These women are sometimes forced into having unprotected sex by their partner. The costumers think that because they are paying for sex, they can do whatever they want. The men become violent and force certain acts upon these women. Although the prostitutes know the risks of their job, some do not take HIV tests because of the fear of it being positive. They’d rather not know.
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.
Women made vulnerable by poverty are most susceptible to the sex industry because they lack the resources, the education, and the economic alternatives to pursue other work possibilities. The lack of education diminishes women’s potential to gain paid employment, and desperately consent to prostitution as their survival strategy.