Prostitution As Social And Legal Issues

The sex work industry has changed and is changing over the years, similar to controversial issues such as, gay rights and abortion. Hence, there will never be a ‘black and white’ solution due to the distinct views of what prostitution entails versus what the law intends to do about it. Decriminalization is the removal of criminal penalties from an act formerly defined as crime (Weitzer, 2012, P: 49). Prostitution should be decriminalized so the government can regulate public safety and the safety of sex workers. This paper will also, examine how the government can regulate the prostitution business and reinforce the feminist ideology. In effort to best present my arguments this paper will be divided into different paragraphs, whereby each paragraph presents a different argument of why

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, 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.

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

Judith Walkowitz’s book Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State, deals with the social and economic impact that prostitution had on English society in the mid to late 19th century. Throughout her piece Walkowitz illustrates the plight of women who are in the prostitution field and that are working the streets throughout England. She starts with the background of most of the prostitutes in Victorian England then talks about the Contagious Disease Act in 1864 that attempted to curb the venereal diseases being spread by prostitutes. Walkowitz also discusses two specific cities in England that prostitution was a ‘social evil’, Southampton and Plymouth, where the repeal campaigns were successful.

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,

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.

Feminists are concerned whether or not a prostitute controls her own sexual identity. Others believe prostitution is degrading, and sexual slavery towards woman while someone like Martha Nussbaum, believe its not threatening a woman anymore more than any other paid job. Where do you stand when it comes to prostitution? Personally I’m concerned with the moral factors and the harm it brings to women both physically and mentally. Throughout this paper I will examine the issues and questions which arise from Nussbaum’s paper, “Whether From Reason or Prejudice: Taking Money for Bodily Service” in order to help come to a conclusion on whether or not prostitution is something society should control through the use of the criminal law.

There is no clear or simple definition of the term prostitution (Levine, 1993 cited in..). According to research, the nature of commercial sex work, and the policies that are implemented and linked to sex work do not have a clear status, especially when examined historically and geographically. However, in Britain, during the modern period, prostitution has become increasingly well defined by legal and medical services. A model of venereal female sexuality was implemented during the nineteenth century. This model informed social policies, which were designed to tackle what was considered to be prostitution’s dangerous, and disturbing ‘ill-effects’. The culmination of

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.

The events and developments outlined above provide the backdrop to the recent legislative changes and provide a context for understanding the strength of the opposition to prostitution law reform. The last ten years have seen community fears being regularly challenged by attempts to debunk the mythology surrounding prostitution, with increasing numbers of books and articles profiling sex workers’ lives More recently, individual sex workers have begun penning their own accounts while the 15-year campaign for prostitution law reform saw a plethora of interview-based articles in glossy magazines (for example, “The Oldest Profession”, More, May 1987; “The Big Sleazy: How they Sell Sex in Auckland”, Metro, November 1988). Crimes involving sex workers

Prostitution is regularly referred to as 'the oldest profession' but this is an issue surrounded by controversy as the debate rages on as to whether or not prostitution is necessarily work in the legitimate sense of the word? And if it isn't legitimate work, then what is it? Rape, sex slavery? These are all arguments which will be explored in more depth later in this piece. It is important to firstly establish some ideas about work, and identify the factors which influence whether exchanging sex for cash can be seen as such. In a broad definition, paid work can be described as the exchange of labour, services or skills from one individual to a second party in exchange for cash, established in a contract of some kind. In other words, 'work'

The legality of the body within the context of transactional sex has been a subject of constant debate, primarily limited to a severe binary whereby the focus on decriminalization rest upon the idea of human agency and the victimization of the body. Central to these narratives is, of course, the female form. On one end of the spectrum, anti-prostitution activists argue that women involved in the sex trade industry are but victims of an unjust

Prostitution has long been portrayed as ‘the world’s oldest profession’ in the majority of Western literatures (e.g. Snell, 1993; Bullough and Bullough, 1996; Drexler, 1996; Aspevig, 2011). For many decades, prostitution is one of the most notable public issues in the United Kingdom. With only few research (e.g. Freud and Leonard, 1991; Morse et al, 1992; McKeganey, 1994) addressed the side of male as customers of prostitution, many empirical scholars (e.g. Ward et al, 1993; Weiner, 1996; Sawyer et al, 1998; Church, 2001) mainly centred their research on female prostitutes (i.e. sellers of sexual services) and their socio-economic circumstances (Sawyer et al, 2001). Therefore, prostitution is generally perceived as a ‘sin’ and women in prostitutes are commonly referred as a ‘fallen woman’ in most Western and British cultures. Recent era in the United Kingdom has witnessed a scope of discriminate solutions (ranged from legalising to repealing) for prostitution. Although the act of prostitution is in itself legally permitted, activities (e.g. solicitation in public places for sex, brothel ownership and kerb-crawling) encompassing prostitution are unlawful (Aspevig, 2011). When mentioning about prostitution, many Britons regarded that both selling and consuming sex is depreciating or despicable. While any mention of legalising prostitution

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.