Prostitution : A Dangerous And Degrading Profession

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.

Prostitution was made illegal in most states in 1910 to 1915 due to the influence of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. In the United States, Nevada is the only state that allows some legal prostitution. Nevada has eight counties that have active brothels, and prostitution outside the licensed brothels is illegal throughout Nevada. There is no specific reason why there is some legal prostitution in Nevada. However, it is suggested that there was a long history of fighting and protesting for brothels and hence, prostitution became legal in some rural areas of Nevada. According to the “U.S. and State Prostitution Arrests, 2001-2010” article, California is the state that has the most prostitution-related arrests with 11,334 persons in 2010.

Prostitutes solicit their bodies and sex to ‘johns,’ the common name for men who take pleasure in the company of prostitutes. Johns are textually defined as men not only willing, but wanting to engage in sexual activities with prostitutes in exchange for money. The johns are willing to pay various amounts of money in order to receive sexual pleasure and entertainment in different forms. They often engage in these activities with them without regard to their own health or

Prostitution is an issue that has been debated in many countries. 22 countries have legalized prostitution. In the United States, prostitution is only legal in 11 rural counties in Nevada. It used to be legal in Rhode Island due to a loophole, but since 2009, it has been illegal 1. Women are not the only ones who are prostitutes, about 20 to 30% of prostitutes are male 2, which means both genders are affected by laws against prostitution. Men and women should be allowed to choose how they want to use their bodies how they wish, and that includes prostitution.

Abel, Gillian, et al. Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers fight for decriminalisation. Policy Press, 2010. Part two: Implementation and impact of the Prostitution Reform Act (2003): the first five years: Review of the PRA

In order to answer this question, it is important to first understand the histories of both prostitution and human trafficking. Often dubbed “the world’s oldest profession”, prostitution can be found in the records of most major civilizations throughout human history. The first known reference to

Prostitution is one of the world’s oldest professions, and laws prohibiting prostitution may be the oldest examples of government regulation and government (sex) discrimination (Armentano, 1993). Prostitution also may be illegal, but if you look hard enough in the streets, you can see them. Countries have been arguing to make

Looking at Nevada a state that has legal prostitution might help answer that question. It is the only state that has legal prostitution in the United States. A quick overview of history of Nevada’s prostitution history and where they are now. Nevada in the 19th century was a railroad town and in the early 20th century prostitution on the economy was beneficial and was allowed by the local government. The time the United States was active World War II the tolerance for prostitution in Nevada had changed and policies by the local government began to effect prostitution on Nevada; there was a change from 1905 where there was acceptance to 1955 where there was disparagement views on prostitution. (Rowley 2012) There have been laws passed for the

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

Prostitution has been a controversy issue since the beginning of the 13 colonies and it still happens to be an issue until today. According to Jackson, prostitution was brought over with the early European settlers, and there was no Native American counterpart to the purchase of sexual favors. In the beginning years prostitution was not illegal it wasn’t until years later that the United States wanted to regulate the issue. Recently prostitution is illegal in all states except for 13 districts in Nevada, it cam to a decision that the state will use discretion to deal with prostitution. Like any controversial topic such as legalizing

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 has been around as long as human beings have engaged in sexual activities, and it is even touted as the world’s oldest profession. Despite these proclamations, the subject of prostitution continues to spark controversy in the United States in moderns times as it is a hot debate topic. Off and on, throughout the years, various states around the country have proposed that the practice should be decriminalized; however, it remains illegal nationwide, except for a few counties in Nevada. The reasons for this stem from both sides of the argument, as anti-prostitution advocates claim decriminalization of prostitution is immoral and sexually exploitative, while pro-prostitution advocates want to keep the government out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. No matter the stance for or against prostitution, the current legal construction surrounding it is undeniably harmful. Regardless of the arguments against prostitutes, it is time to decriminalize the laws against this practice to protect the rights of sex workers.

Thesis: 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.

In the book Sex for Sale Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry, Table 1.1 shows characteristics of types of prostitution. There are six categories; Business location, prices charged, exploitation by third parties, risk of violent victimization, public visibility, and impact on community. There are also six types of jobs in the sex industry; Call girl, escort, brothel worker, massage parlor worker, bar or casino worker, and street walker. For every job besides the street walker the prices charged are high or moderate, exploitation by third parties were low to moderate, the risk of violent victimization was either very low or low, public visibility is either none or very low, and the impact on the community is either none or little (Weitzer 8). This shows that prostitution, unless one is a streetwalker, is relatively safe, profitable,

After the Escorts comes the Bar girls/boys who are hustlers, strippers and table dancers that work in night clubs, bars and strip joints primarily. Then comes the house girls that work in brothels which would run by a madam (female recruiter) or a pimp (male recruiter); they have very little to no freedom in selecting their client and cannot turn down a customer. After that come the bottom two classes – street-walkers and drug-addicts. The street-walkers are prostitute work at a specific location and in open street and dress very provocatively to entice their customers. The bottom tier, drug-addicts are man or woman who would have sex with others just to have drugs or money to buy drugs. These five ranks also determines how much freedom and options you have and the entry and exit in the sex industry; the higher the rank the hard to enter and easy to quit while it remains the opposite in the lower rank. The higher rank prostitutes also have more protection and security than the lower rank ones and there are more violent events (rape, death etc) in the lower rank than the higher rank that have an established business with higher and exclusive clientele. Despite it’s danger and the cultural taboo condemning it, in the documentary Prostitution: the oldest trade, where several prostitutes were interviewed on how they feel about