Prostitution in Society
Another
contentious sexual practice is prostitution, which involves the selling of
sexual services. Many people, particularly those with traditional religious
beliefs, believe prostitution is unethical because it includes sex for money,
and they see it as a reflection of society's moral deterioration. Many
feminists argue that prostitution is demeaning to women and creates an
environment in which prostitutes are robbed, beaten, and/or raped. These two
categories of people may agree on nothing else, yet they both have strong
unfavorable feelings about prostitution. Regardless of their other convictions,
many people fear that prostitution spreads STDs. All of these groups believe
that prostitution should remain illegal and would prefer tighter enforcement of
anti-prostitution laws.
Other people
dislike prostitution as well, but they believe that prostitution regulations
cause more harm than benefit. They believe that legalizing prostitution will
minimize the different problems that prostitution produces, and that beliefs
about the immorality of prostitution should not preclude our society from
dealing with it more sensibly than it currently does.
This section begins with a
brief history of prostitution before moving on to the many varieties of
prostitution, the motives for prostitution, and policy concerns of how to
effectively deal with this specific sexual behavior. Because the majority of
prostitution involves female prostitutes and male customers, our discussion
will concentrate mostly on this kind.
Prostitution,
sometimes referred to as the world's oldest occupation, has been practiced
since prehistoric times (Ringdal, 2004). Priests had sex with prostitutes in
ancient Mesopotamia. Legal brothels (houses of prostitution) served both
political leaders and common men in Ancient Greece. Prostitution was also
popular in ancient Rome, and it was "accepted as a more or less necessary
fact of life, and it was more or less expected that many men would turn to
prostitutes" in the Old Testament (Bullough & Bullough, 1977, pp.
137-138). Prostitution was regarded as a necessary evil during the Middle Ages
and into the nineteenth century, as legal brothels functioned in much of Europe
and were an essential source of tax income. As the dangers of venereal disease
were understood, some cities closed their brothels, while others enforced
frequent medical checks of their brothels' prostitutes.
Prostitution was
also popular in the United States during the nineteenth century (Bullough &
Bullough, 1987). Poor women became prostitutes because it provided a source of
revenue at a period when they had few other options for work. Some prostitutes
worked for themselves on the streets, in hotels, and in other locations, while
others worked in legal brothels in several US towns.
Prostitutes
found many customers among Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War;
the term hooker for prostitute comes from their interactions with soldiers
commanded by Union general Joseph Hooker. Prostitute camps would spring up at
railroad building sites after the Civil War. When railroad employees visited
the camps at night, they hung their red signal lamps outside the prostitutes'
tents so that they could be found in the event of a railroad emergency. The
term "red-light district" for a prostitution area was derived from
the red glow produced by this conduct.
Types of Prostitutes
Several
types of prostitutes exist. At the bottom of the prostitution “hierarchy”
are streetwalkers (also called street prostitutes), who
typically find their customers, or are found by their customers, somewhere on a
street. They then have a quick act of sex in the customer’s car, in an alleyway
or other secluded spot, or in a cheap hotel. Although streetwalkers are the
subjects in most studies of prostitutes, they in fact compose only about
one-fifth of all prostitutes (Weitzer, 2012).
The
remaining 80 percent of prostitutes generally work indoors. Call girls work
as independent operators in their homes or fairly fancy hotels and charge a lot
of money for their services, which include sex but also talking and dining.
Their clients are typically businessmen or other wealthy individuals. Many call
girls earn between $200 and $500 per hour, and some earn between $1,000 and
$6,000 per hour or per session (Weitzer, 2009).
Escorts work
for escort agencies, which often advertise heavily in phone books and on the
Internet. They may operate out of an apartment rented by their agency or come
to a client’s hotel room or other location. Although they may actually act as
an escort to a dinner or show, typically their services include sexual acts. They,
too, are generally well paid for their work, but do not earn nearly as much as
call girls because they have to give at least 30 percent of their earnings to
their agency.
Call
girls and escorts rank at the top of the prostitution hierarchy (Weitzer, 2009).
Below them, but above streetwalkers, are three other types of
prostitutes. Brothel workers, as the name implies, are prostitutes who
work in brothels. The only legal brothels in the United States today are found
in several rural counties in Nevada, which legalized prostitution in these
counties in 1971. Workers in these brothels pay income tax. Because their
employers require regular health exams and condom use, the risk of sexually
transmitted disease in Nevada’s brothels is low. Massage parlor workers,
as their name also implies, work in massage parlors. Many massage parlors, of
course, involve no prostitution at all, and are entirely legal. However, some
massage parlors are in fact fronts for prostitution, where the prostitute
masturbates a man and brings him to what is often termed a “happy ending.” A
final category of prostitution involves prostitutes who work in bars, casinos,
or similar establishments (bar or casino workers). They make contact with a
customer in these settings and then have sex with them elsewhere.
The lives
and welfare of streetwalkers are much worse than those of the five types of
indoor workers just listed. As sociologist Ronald Weitzer (2012, p. 212)
observes, “Many of the problems associated with ‘prostitution’ are actually concentrated
in street prostitution and much less evident in the indoor sector.” In
particular, many streetwalkers are exploited or abused by pimps, use heroin or
other drugs, and are raped, robbed, and/or beaten by their clients. A good
number of streetwalkers also began their prostitution careers as runaway
teenagers and were abused as children.
In
contrast, indoor workers begin their trade when they were older and are less
likely to have been abused as children. Their working conditions are much
better than those for streetwalkers, they are less likely to be addicted to
drugs and to have STDs, they are better paid, and they are much less likely to
be victimized by their clients. Studies that compare indoor prostitutes with
nonprostitutes find that they have similar levels of self-esteem, physical
health, and mental health. Many indoor prostitutes even report a rise in
self-esteem after they begin their indoor work (Weitzer, 2012).
Prostitution in Sri
Lanka...
Prostitution is not illegal in Sri Lanka, however, related activities such as soliciting, procuring, and brothels are outlawed. It is also illegal to traffic persons for prostitution, especially minors Prostitution is not as widespread in Sri Lanka as
in some neighbouring countries. It is estimated that there are 40,000
prostitutes (known as "ගණිකාව"
(Ganikawa)) in the country, and nearly half of them operate in Colombo. Child Sex tourism and human trafficking are problems in Sri Lanka.There is a
reluctance for sex-workers to use condoms as these can be used as evidence of prostitution
if they are arrested. UNAIDS are running a programme to
promote safe sex to the prostitutes.
Much of Sri Lanka's
law surrounding prostitution dates
back to the days of British rule. The Vagrants
Ordinance was introduced in 1842. Two sections are relevant to prostitution:
S2 –
Punishment of persons behaving riotously or disorderly in the public streets.
Every
person behaving in a riotous or disorderly manner in any public street or
highway shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five rupees.
S7 –
Soliciting and acts of indecency in public places.
(a) any
person in or about any public place soliciting any person for the purpose of
the commission of any act of illicit sexual intercourse or indecency, whether
with the person soliciting or with any other person, whether specified or not;
(b) any
person found committing any act of gross indecency, or found behaving with
gross indecency, in or about any public place.
In 1889 the
Brothels Ordinance was introduced. It provides punishment for any person who
(a) keeps
or manages or acts or assists in the management of a brothel; or
(b) being
the tenant, lessee, occupier or owner of any premises, knowingly permits such
premises or any part thereof to be used as a brothel, or for the purpose of
habitual prostitution; or
(c) being
the lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such lessor or
landlords, lets the same, or any part thereof, with the knowledge that such premises
or some part thereof are or is to be used as a brothel, or is willfully a party
to the continued use of such premises or any part thereof as a brothel,
Section
360A of the Penal Code defines and prohibits procuring, Section 360B
Deals with the sexual exploitation of
children and Section 360C deals with human trafficking. In addition Section 365A (grave sexual
offences), strengthens the legislation on sex with children and trafficking.
(all added 1995).
References
·
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(1996). The prostitution of sexuality. New York, NY: New York
University Press.
·
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Bullough, V.
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