“Prostitution is a blight on the human race…for if you men did not impose chastity on women as a necessary virtue while refusing to practice it yourselves, they would not be rejected by society for yielding to the sentiments of their hearts, nor would seduced, deceived, and abandoned girls be forced into prostitution.” – Flora Tristan (1803 – 1844)
The rate of prostitution today calls for concerns. Associated with all manners of tale and superstition, practiced and patronized by all sorts of people, it exists in every nook and cranny, flourishing on all levels of the society despite some legal restrictions, moral burden and inherent health implications.
Prostitution can be defined as the performance of sexual acts solely for the purpose of selfish gain. People prostitute when they grant sexual favours to others in exchange for money, gifts, or other payment and in so doing use their bodies as commodities. It is dependent on the economic, social, and sexual values of a society.
Prostitutes may be of either sex, but the majority has been women, reflecting both the traditional socio-economic dependence of women and the tendency to exploit female sexuality. However, men that were traditionally characterized as procurers and customers are increasingly becoming prostitutes that are patronized by both male and female customers!
A prostitute can be called different names at different times by different people. A female prostitute can be addressed as a whore, hooker, call girl, business girl, streetwalker, trollop, strumpet, courtesan, escort, lady of the evening, working girl, doxy, scarlet woman, harlot, drab while a male prostitute becomes a rent boy, male escort, gigolo, lad model, gent of the night, sporting boy, weeping willy…
The crime of prostitution according to Encarta involves the exchange of sexual contact or favours for money or its equivalent. It involves pandering which is the promotion of prostitution by enticing or procuring persons to engage in prostitution; securing customers for prostitutes constitutes the crime of procuring while pimping is managing the activities and contacts of prostitutes.
But is prostitution really a crime? In answering the question, someone said, “Two adults enter a room, agree a price, and have sex. Has either committed a crime? Common sense suggests not: sex is not illegal in itself, and the fact that money has changed hands does not turn a private act into a social menace. If both parties consent, it is hard to see how either is a victim. But prostitution has rarely been treated as just another transaction, or even as a run-of-the-mill crime: the oldest profession is also the oldest pretext for outraged moralising and unrealistic lawmaking devised by man.”
What is the moral effect of prostitution? Would the elimination of prostitution breed even worse form of immorality and perversion as pointed out by St. Augustine? In the same way, someone argued against criminalisation of prostitution. “Plausible, but wrong. Criminalisation forces prostitution into the underworld. Legalisation would bring it into the open, where abuses such as trafficking and under-age prostitution can be more easily tackled. Brothels would develop reputations worth protecting. Access to health care would improve—an urgent need, given that so many prostitutes come from diseased parts of the world.” Teela Sanders wrote, “It is accepted and encouraged that femininity should be expressed in a certain way…Sex work is not considered a service industry, because the idea of sexual services is viewed through a different lens due to the inherent Christian, middle-class morals attached to the act of sex, as something that is only rightly expressed in heterosexual, monogamous, reproductive relationships.”
Looking at the pros of legal prostitution as a legitimate business, Ana Lopes said, “Sex work is legitimate work and problems within the industry are not inherent in the work itself. It is vulnerability, not sex work, which creates victims. Sex workers should enjoy the same labour rights as other workers and the same human rights as other people. Sex workers can only gain the same rights as other workers when the debate is moved from a moral framework and placed in the framework of labour rights.” John Turley-Ewart went further to say, “The assumption underlying much of the bad press … is that decriminalization is a boon to the underworld. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth. Prostitution is like any other industry. Make it illegal, and you give criminals a monopoly. Legalize it, and you give law-abiding enterprises a chance to compete… Moreover, regulated brothels now are operated as legitimate businesses, and so attract professional managers as opposed to underworld thugs.”
On the other hand, some people oppose the idea of legalizing prostitution. Virada Somswasdi said, “One needs to completely rid oneself of the voracity for cash to see that prostitution, although legalized, can never be a legitimate business because it will always be associated with crime, corruption, class, mass sexual exploitation and human trafficking.” Bodil Kornbek corroborated the point by saying, “It’s wrong to promote the fact that one person buying another is legitimate. To us, this is nothing more than human trafficking, and it’s completely unacceptable.” Janice G. Raymond was more blunt in the article “Legitimating Prostitution as Sex Work: UN Labour Organization (ILO) Calls for Recognition of the Sex Industry,” by writing: “…It is a travesty that the ILO would now be calling for the economic recognition of prostitution as legitimate work. If women in prostitution are counted as workers, pimps as businessmen, and the buyers as customers, thus legitimating the entire sex industry as an economic sector, then governments can abdicate responsibility for making decent and sustainable employment available to women.” Donna M. Hughes wrote, “Legalization and regulation aim to redefine prostitution as a form of work, indicated by the use of the term “sex work.” The renaming may clean up the image of prostitution, but it doesn’t end the violence and exploitation. It only allows criminals and members of organized crime rings to become legitimate businessmen and work hand-in-hand with the state in marketing women’s bodies… Prostitution is an extreme form of gender discrimination. Legalization of this violence to women restricts women’s freedom and citizenship rights. If women are allowed to become a legitimate commodity, they are consigned to a second-class citizenship. Democracy is subverted.”
It is very glaring that because of the effects of prostitution, the debate for or against it is an endless one.
“Abolitionists make three arguments. From the right comes the argument that the sex trade is plain wrong, and that, by condoning it, society demeans itself. Liberals who believe that what consenting adults do in private is their own business reject that line.
From the left comes the argument that all prostitutes are victims. Its proponents cite studies that show high rates of sexual abuse and drug taking among employees. To which there are two answers. First, those studies are biased: they tend to be carried out by staff at drop-in centres and by the police, who tend to see the most troubled streetwalkers. Taking their clients as representative of all prostitutes is like assessing the state of marriage by sampling shelters for battered women. Second, the association between prostitution and drug addiction does not mean that one causes the other: drug addicts, like others, may go into prostitution just because it’s a good way of making a decent living if you can’t think too clearly.
A third, more plausible, argument focuses on the association between prostitution and all sorts of other nastinesses, such as drug addiction, organised crime, trafficking and underage sex. To encourage prostitution, goes the line, is to encourage those other undesirables; to crack down on prostitution is to discourage them.”
Whatever the argument, the dangers of prostitution are many. Health wise, it is the major cause of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs) some of which are very chronic, and depending on the price and condition, prostitutes can do anything. However one looks at it, it is worrisome that someone who can indulge into unprotected oral and anal sex would turn around to suggest the use of condom for vaginal sex, maybe as family planning method…
And with the harsh economic reality, too many people are going into prostitution so what should be done?
