Prostitution

Prostitution is one of the world’s oldest professions and is against the law almost everywhere in the United States. A more contemporary study has characterized prostitution as a business transaction understood as such by the parties involved and in the nature of a short term contract. To be a prostitute, one has to treat the exchanging of sexual gratification for an established fee as a business deal, without any pretence to affection, and continue to do this as a form of financial occupation. (Social Attribution and the Construction of Prostitution as a social problem)

Prostitution is widespread in societies of the world where women have low standing in relation to men. Conflict theorists analyze prostitution as part of the larger problem of the unequal allocation of scarce resources. Women, they argue, have not had equal access to economic opportunity. The inability to support themselves leaves women to rely on the economic support of men. They get this support by exchanging the one scarce resource they have to offer; sexual availability. To a conflict theorist it makes little difference whether a woman barters her sexuality through prostitution or marriage; the underlying cause is the same. (Wadsworth, Thomson, 2004)

The conflict perspective highlights the relationship between power in society and sex work. The laws that make prostitution illegal are created by powerful dominant group members who seek to maintain cultural dominance by criminalizing sexual conduct that they consider immoral. Conflict theorists argue that women become prostitutes because of economic inequality and patriarchy. Capitalism and patriarchy foster economic inequality between men and women and force women to view their bodies as commodities. Conflict theorists also suggest that criminalizing prostitution uniquely affects poor women, especially poor women of color, who are over represented among street prostitutes. (Hall, Darryl)

There are three main strands of the feminist theory: liberal, radical and materialist. The liberal feminist views prostitution as a legitimate choice of work: women should be allowed to make money in whatever way they choose, including prostitution. Radical feminists believe that the oppression of women is the most fundamental form of oppression and provides a model for all others. They believe prostitution reinforces and perpetuates the objectification, subordination and exploitation of women which is necessary to maintain the patriarchy. “According to the radical feminist view, men are socialized to have sexual desires and to feel entitled to have those desires met, whereas women are socialized to meet those desires and to internalize accepted definitions of femininity and sexual objectification.” (Weisberg, D. Kelly) Prostitution is sexual abuse and must be eradicated by any means necessary. Materialist feminism believes that the objective conditions in which women live define their oppression. Prostitution is a response to poverty and their labor; it should be legal but heavily regulated. (McAlpine, Mhairi)

While liberals may support a number of provisions from regulating prostitution, with the health and safety of prostitutes and the public in mind, they do not in general aim to eliminate commercial sexual recreation as a way of making a living or as a pastime for those who can’t afford it. Radical feminists in contrast, generally favor maintaining and strengthening the prohibition of prostitution, they strongly support shifting the focus of the prohibition away from prostitutes and onto the middlemen and customers. (Anderson, Scott A.)

Prostitution exists foremost because there is demand. Without clients, there is no prostitution. Without the demand, there is no supply. Moreover, the demand is present because men think it legitimate to pay women to satisfy their sexual needs. This is a result of structural inequality between men and women within our society allowing men to buy access to a woman’s body purely on his ability to pay and her poverty and/or vulnerability. This is an issue of power rather than sexuality. As Kate Millett (1975) highlighted, “It is not the sex the prostitute is really made to sell; it is degradation. And the buyer, the john, is not buying sexuality but power.” (Fife, Dawn) The demand by men for sexual services also brings about trafficking of women and children, mainly girls. If men did not regard it as their self evident right to purchase and sexually exploit women and children, prostitution and trafficking would not exist. The media may also play a role in the existence of prostitution. Popular contemporary cinema, advertisements, fashion, literature, and music generally portray women and girls as objects, while presenting a false picture of prostitution. The extreme violence inflicted on women and girls