Prostitution is sexual activity in exchange for remuneration. The legal status of prostitution varies in different countries, from punishable by death to complete legality.
The term is also used more loosely to indicate someone who engages in sexual acts that are disapproved of[1], such as sexual promiscuity or sex outside of marriage. Cultural usage varies widely, and the use of the term as a pejorative indicates acts that are not formally considered prostitution in a cultural context.
Pornographic actors and actresses get paid for having sex, but are not generally regarded as prostitutes. A woman who is supported by only one man with whom she has sexual intercourse with but does not live with is a mistress, and is not normally considered a prostitute.
Terminology
There are a variety of terms used for those who engage in prostitution, some of which distinguish between different kinds, or imply a value judgment about them. Prostitute is generally accepted as the least value-laden term; common alternatives with varying implications include escort and whore. (Not all professional escorts are prostitutes, however.) Prostitution is sometimes nicknamed the "world's oldest profession".
Definition
In street prostitution the prostitute solicits customers while waiting at street corners or "walking the street".
Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution, often confined to special red-light districts in big cities. Other names for brothels include bordello, whorehouse, cathouse, and general houses. Prostitution also occurs in some massage parlours, and in Asian countries in some barber shops where sexual services may be offered as a secondary function of the premises.
In escort prostitution, the act takes place at the customer's place of residence or more commonly at his or her hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's place of residence or in a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (called in-call). This form of prostitution often shelters under the umbrella of escort agencies, who ostensibly supply attractive escorts for social occasions. While escort agencies claim never to provide sexual services, very few successful escorts are available exclusively for social companionship. Even where this type of prostitution is legal, the ambiguous term escort service is commonly used. (See call girl). In the US, escort agencies advertise frequently on the internet and example advertisements can be readily found on any major search engine and on open forum sites such as Craigslist. In the case of prostitutes using the internet to place ads, or prospective customers advertising for a prostitute, a long list of abbreviations and "code words" are used to describe how much a service may cost, or what specific act is being requested (see List of prostitution-related jargon terms).
In street prostitution, the prostitute solicits customers while waiting at street corners (sometimes called "the track" by pimps and prostitutes alike), usually dressed in skimpy clothing. Street prostitutes are often called "street walkers" while their customers are referred to as "tricks". The sex is performed in the customer's car, in a nearby alley, or in a rented room (motels that service prostitutes commonly rent rooms by the half or full hour). Street prostitutes are often motivated by drug addiction (though the statistics are disputed),[2] and are sometimes referred to by slang terms such as "crack whores".
Violence against prostitutes
Prostitutes are at risk of violent crime,[13] as well as possibly at higher risk of occupational mortality than any other group of women ever studied. For example, the homicide rate for female prostitutes was estimated to be 204 per 100,000 (Potterat et al, 2004), which is sometimes higher than that for the next riskiest occupations in the United States during a similar period (4 per 100,000 for female liquor store workers and 29 per 100,000 for male taxicab drivers) (Castillo et al., 1994). However, there are substantial differences in rates of victimization between street prostitutes and indoor prostitutes who work as escorts, call girls, or in brothels and massage parlors (Weitzer 2000, 2005). Perpetrators include violent clients, pimps, and corrupt law-enforcement officers. Prostitutes (particularly those engaging in street prostitution) are also sometimes the targets of serial killers, who may consider them easy targets, or use the religious and social stigma associated with prostitutes as justification for their murder. Being criminals in most jurisdictions, prostitutes are less likely than the law-abiding to be looked for by police if they disappear, making them favored targets of predators. The unidentified serial killer (or killers) known as Jack the Ripper is said to have killed at least five prostitutes in London in 1888. More recently, Robert Pickton, a Canadian who lived near Vancouver, made headlines after the remains of several missing prostitutes were found buried on his farm. He now stands charged with the murder of 26 Vancouver area women, and is suspected by police of killing at least four more (though no charges have been laid). Gary Ridgway (aka the Green River Killer), confessed to killing 48 prostitutes from 1982 to 1998, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.[14] As of December 2006, a serial killer of prostitutes appears to be active in Ipswich, England (see 2006 Ipswich murder investigation).
Human trafficking and sexual slavery
During World War II, women and girls were kidnapped and enslaved by the Imperial Japanese military and forced to work as unpaid prostitutes (see Comfort women).
Human trafficking is the fastest growing form of modern day slavery[15] and is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world.[16]
Poverty, social exclusion and war are at the heart of human trafficking. Many women are hoodwinked into believing promises of a better life, sometimes by people who are known and trusted to them. Traffickers may own legitimate travel agencies, modeling agencies and employment offices in order to gain women's trust. Others are simply kidnapped. Once overseas it is common for their passport to be confiscated by the trafficker and to be warned of the consequences should they attempt to escape, including beatings, rape, threats of violence against their family and death threats. It is common, particularly in Eastern Europe, that should they manage to return to their families they will only be trafficked once again.
Due to the illegal and underground nature of sex trafficking, the exact extent of women and children forced into prostitution is unknown. The International Labour Organization in 2005 estimated at least 2.4 million people have been trafficked.[15]
Thousands of children are sold into the global sex trade every year. Often they are kidnapped or orphaned, and sometimes they are actually sold by their own families. According to the International Labour Organization, the problem is especially alarming in Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal and India.[17]
In May 2005 the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings opened for signature. Since then over 30 countries have signed the Convention and four countries have ratified it. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has produced a Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons.[18]
Globally, forced labour generates $31bn, half of it in the industrialised world, a tenth in transition countries, the International Labour Organization says in a report on forced labour ("A global alliance against forced labour", ILO, 11 May 2005). Trafficking in people has been facilitated by porous borders and advanced communication technologies, it has become increasingly transnational in scope and highly lucrative within its barbarity.
In some countries counselling, accommodation, specialist care exists for trafficked people to help them escape, whilst in other countries, this support is lacking.
Medical situation
Prostitution has often been associated with the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV. Although people working as prostitutes are not regularly studied as a group by the CDC or other recognized institutions, what little has been done on the subject suggests that women in prostitution have either HIV rates similar to the population or lower.
Nevertheless, needle-sharing injection drug users in prostitution or not carry very high rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV compared to the general population. Studies in the USA on non-intravenous drug using prostitutes are few, although studies in urban settings of prostitution in developing countries have shown a striking burden of STD's, which acts as a reservoir of STD's within the general population.[19]
Typical responses to the problem are:
- banning prostitution completely
- introducing a system of registration for prostitutes that mandates health checks and other public health measures
- educating prostitutes and their clients to encourage the use of barrier contraception and greater interaction with health care
Some think that the first two measures are counter-productive. Banning prostitution tends to drive it underground, making treatment and monitoring more difficult. Registering prostitutes makes the state complicit in prostitution and does not address the health risks of unregistered prostitutes. Both of the last two measures can be viewed as harm reduction policies.
In Australia where sex-work is largely legal, and registration of sex-work is not practiced, education campaigns have been extremely successful and the non-intravenous drug user (non-IDU) sex workers are among the lower HIV-risk communities in the nation. In part, this is probably due both to the legality of sex-work, and to the heavy general emphasis on education in regard to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Safer sex is heavily promoted as the major means of STI reduction in Australia, and sex education generally is at a high level. Sex-worker organisations regularly visit brothels and home workers, providing free condoms and lubricant, health information, and other forms of support.
The encouragement of safer sex practices, combined with regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases, has been very successful when applied consistently. Prostitution appears to have little effect as a vector of STDs when safer sex practices are applied consistently. However, in countries and areas where safer sex precautions are either unavailable or not practiced for cultural reasons, prostitution appears to be a very active disease vector for all STDs, including HIV/AIDS.
Criminal behavior
In areas where prostitution is illegal, sex workers are commonly charged with crimes ranging from pandering to tax evasion. Their clients can be charged with solicitation of prostitution. Prosecution for various other sex crimes can be sought against the client and pimps depending on such things as the age of the prostitute and the nature of the act performed.
See also
Brothel
Sex, Sexual intercourse, Human sexual behavior, Sexually transmitted disease
Red-light district, Street prostitution,
Sexual slavery
Prostitution (criminology)
Debt bondage
Sex crime
Male prostitution
Drugs and prostitution
Prostitution in the United States
Information sites
"Street prostitution" by Michael S. Scott, US DOJ Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series, No. 2
Organizations
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
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