Effect Of The Sex Industry On Women

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

Abstract: This paper explores the world’s oldest and most controversial occupation and puts forth a foundational plan for legalizing and regulating sex work in a safe way that satisfies both radical and liberal feminists ideals. To understand how prostitution has evolved to where it’s at today, this proposal travels through the history of prostitution in the United States (heavily focusing on the twentieth century.) Prostitutes were initially accepted and openly sought after. A shift in societal norms and values placed sex work in a heavy degradation. The regulation of prostitution in Nevada began in 1970 and resulted in the first licensed brothel in 1971. Fast forward nearly fifty years and prostitution is outlawed in 49 out of 50 states. Vast amounts of money are being spent annually in failed attempts to stop prostitution all together. Radical feminists are those who would identify as conservative. They are against prostitution on the belief that it victimizes and degrades women in poverty. Liberal feminists strongly agree that the government has no place in a women’s body and that the right to perform sex work is human right. This paper analyzes these different perspectives and incorporates a model that will resemble the current working regulation in Nevada. Stricter stipulations such as health requirements and the legal age should help influence radical feminist to expand their perspective and acceptance.

“We live in a predatory capitalist society in which everything is for sale. Everybody is for sale, so there is ubiquitous commodification.” This quotation by Cornel West, an American philosopher and political activist, conveys the widespread objectification of human beings in our society. The narrow, traditional image of prostitution has experienced a dramatic shift in the post-industrial American society. Sex workers are not automatically considered to be from low-income, marginalized groups, and instead, they have come to also include individuals from the educated, middle-class category. This demographic transition reveals the gradual

For the purpose of this study, male prostitutes and sexual acts such as pornography, stripping and erotic massages are excluded from the definition of prostitution. The terms ‘sex worker’ and ‘prostitute’ will be used interchangeably throughout the paper. The term ‘sex work’ was coined to circumvent the stigma that accompanies prostitution and to acknowledge that it generates income, like any other profession in our society (Sondhi, 2011).

For the purpose of this study, male prostitutes and sexual acts such pornography, stripping and erotic massage are excluded from the definition of prostitution. The terms ‘sex worker’ and ‘prostitute’ will be used interchangeably throughout the paper. The term ‘sex work’ was coined to circumvent the stigma that accompanies prostitution and to acknowledge that it generates income, like any other profession in our society.

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.

Amy, a long-term worker at the legally regulated Moonlight Bunny Ranch, was once part of the Air Force but made $500,000 a year working at a brothel (Shrager, 2016). While only 15% of prostitutes who go into sex work to survive, most women who become sex workers choose this path and are content with its financial stability and flexibility (Burgmann, 2017). Although there is potential for a sex worker to become wealthy, a prostitute’s “appearance and activities are attacked, limited, and kept in line by the threat of “sluthood” and “whoredom”” (Thorn, 2010). Without knowing Amy was a prostitute, people would thank her for her service to the country. But because there is the persistent “whore stigma” revolving around sex workers, prostitution’s continued illegality hampers the dignity and respect of the women as they are treated as outlaws by society. In the Canadian Review of Sociology, 22 prostitutes from Vancouver were interviewed on how the industry changed their lives. In one anecdote, Cheryl had been in her professional job for 5 years, but as soon as her manager knew about her promiscuous past, “he joked that a nameplate on her desk read ‘pubic relations.’ When Kayla started a new job, a police officer informed her boss she was a former “prostitute and a junkie.” Kayla lost her job and went back to sex work. (Canadian Review of Sociology). What is

Prostitution is sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession,” with the first record of its practice dates back to Ancient Near East civilizations. Despite its age-old existence, not until relatively recently that researches and studies have been conducted in an attempt to obtain a better understanding of and more liberal perspective on a taboo widely perceived as too degrading and immoral to even talk about. When writing about commercial sex in her book “Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale,” Debra Satz challenges many of the bases on which society justifies its censure and outlawing of prostitution and its objectification and alienation of sex workers. She also criticizes the prohibition of prostitution, recognizes the core problems with sex selling, and suggests an alternative, possibly more effective, way in which prostitution should be addressed.

Sexual favours in return for money, just the thought of this has people cringing, although laws have deemed to move forward with the idea of prostitution it seems although socially there has not been much progress. The idea of prostitution still scares, or one could even go as far to say it disgusts people. The lack of knowledge and awareness of the details of sex work create this ongoing hate towards sex work, which continues to stigmatize sex workers. Regardless of changing laws, regardless of changing policies, why is it that sex workers are still afraid to proudly announce that their job is in fact the job of a sex worker? Unfortunately, it seems as though the idea of sex work that seems to be such a terrible one is not what bothers sex workers the most, it is the social misconception of what sex work is like that leads these individuals to feel highly stigmatized (Van der Meulen and Redwood, 2013). The primary harm for of prostitution seems to be the stigma against prostitution, women involved in prostitution are considered socially invisible as full human beings (Farley, 2004). Why is it that our changing and progressing laws are still unable to remove this stigma from the lives of sex workers? This paper will argue that prostitution laws continue to produce stigma around sex work. It will argue this through revisiting the historical laws, examining present laws and ongoing laws at this time.

Although sex work has always received a lot of criticism from the society that we live in but according to Bell (2009) rather than looking as sex work as degrading and unrespectable it should be treated as a work of any other kind. It is Bell's (2009) opinion the sex work doesn't necessarily have to be harmful to the women.

There are many pressing issues that women face regarding their sexuality today. Examples of these issues include sexual violence, harassment, the regulation of women’s bodies, and a multitude of others. Although these issues may seem to be vary, or fall on different places on a spectrum of severity, there is a factor that conjoins all of the aforementioned issues together. Many societal issues which women face regarding their sexuality are tied to the fact that women as sexual beings are stigmatized. For hundreds of years, the common view was that women could not, should not, would not be corrupted by the dangers of sexuality, with the exception of within her marriage bed. This stigma has shaped society in many ways, and is experienced by almost every woman within her lifetime, however certain populations may experience more stigma than others. Some of these populations may be people who are already otherwise marginalized, such as women of colour or members of the LGBTQ community, but other examples may come from people who deviate from societal norms. Sex workers, which are people who partake in any sex, or sexually related goods, in exchange for money, fall into the latter category. This paper will examine five feminist writer’s experience of the issue regarding the stigmatization that sex workers face, and will delve into potential solutions when approaching this issue to see what will work best to eradicate this prejudice. The stigma that is associated with sex work is

We hear about it in the news almost daily; sex workers were using Craigslist to post ads in the (former) erotic service section, others are soliciting on Back Page. Human trafficking rings are being discovered all throughout the United States. Massage parlors are being used as a front for housing prostitution. Whether we want to address it or not, this is a prevalent social issue in our society today. Researchers Christine Harcourt, PhD, Research Fellow for the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology & Clinical Research at the University of New South Wales, and Basil Donovan, MD, Professor of Sexual Health at National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research of the University of New South Wales, have even identified up to twenty-five different setting types of sex work. Hilary L. Surratt a PhD of Associate Scientist for the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies at the University of Delaware, wrote: "In contrast to popular thinking, female sex workers are an extremely heterogeneous population. They are situated in a myriad of social and environmental contexts” Past and current studies suggest that there are many different types of female sex workers, including 'call girls ' and escorts working in the upper echelons of the sex industry, 'in-house ' sex workers working in parlors or brothels, 'street-walkers ' who sell sex for money through sidewalk solicitations, part-timers who supplement their incomes with sex-for-pay, and

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.

The sex industry is controversial issue that has been debated on whether or not to allow the industry to become legal. So what would be the solution to best handle such a problematic profession? On the one hand, many have acknowledged the problems it holds while operating illegally, and believed it would be far more beneficial for prostitutes to allow the sex industry to operate as a legitimate business. On the other hand, however, many who are in opposition to the proposal refuse it from becoming a legitimate business. Those who support this viewpoint believe that it destroys and means women by practicing a profession that many consider to be slavery; yet they lack a solution to end or stunt the growth of current issues that have

While the younger millennial crowd tends to tout a collective “do as you please as long as you’re not hurting anyone” attitude toward sex and sexuality, older generations have outwardly conceded to maintain a more traditional moral status quo. While the law has a very clear stance on sex work, the practice has had a nuanced background throughout history, remaining in place without acknowledgeable regard to legality. Laws that have attempted to reduce sex work via criminalization have only forced the industry underground, leaving it further unregulated and increasingly dangerous.