Introduction to Around and Inside Prostitution free essay sample

Prostitution, they say that this is the oldest profession of all time; it is as old as history itself. It is believed that even during the early times, prostitution had been evident, and there are even stories in the bible as manifestation for this. A summary of this story in lay-man’s term is as follows: Mary was singled out and accused by the people during those times as a prostitute and they were about to stone her or do her some harm as a form of punishment for her actions. These people must have thought that they were pretty cool as they were all so willing to pass judgment on this woman. Just as they were about to kill her, another person by the name of Jesus piped up and said to this crowd something like whoever among you who has not done anything wrong in their past, you throw the first stone or something like that. We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Around and Inside Prostitution or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Not one in that mob was willing to make the first move. They all left probably mumbling in their beards. Jesus was supposed to have been a bit of a holy man himself and he told Mary that He also was not about to condemn her. Im pretty sure He would have recommended her to go and maybe consider another line of work. Though simplistic in its delivery, this story has not changed much over the centuries. There are still those people who sell themselves for sex. There are still those people willing to pass judgment on what these people do even though they have no idea of the reasons why these people are in this predicament in the first place. There is still the associated violence, the victims and those willing to forgive. As old as the hills, prostitution today takes more forms than ever before. Around the world the sex industry presents many faces. Male or female, prostitutes are still shunned and labelled whores or hookers. Those who buy it are seen as sleazy or immoral. From the low end of the scale in the slums of a third world country to a legalized brothel at the high end of the scale do opinions on prostitution change? Are prostitutes always victims or do some control their work and even enjoy the sex? When the industry does away with the street pimps and the other players in the game are the disabled or subscribers to cyber brothels. Is prostitution somehow stigmatized or is violence, drug abuse and disease still global realities? The sex industry adapts itself to different cultures but the bottom line is that the institution is primarily about providing sex. Around the world, it faces similar problems. Many are driven to sell sex against their will and they are rejected by society as a result. Some are trafficked as children, others end up on the street to escape child abuse and become ensnared by pimps and a few lured by the high end of the industry. No matter what the circumstances, prostitution carries a powerful stigma and people who sell sex are considered tainted. PROSTITUTION DEFINED It is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including john. Prostitution is one of the branches of the sex industry. The legal status of prostitution varies from country to country, from being a punishable crime to a regulated profession. Estimates place the annual revenue generated from the global prostitution industry to be over $100 billion. Prostitution is sometimes referred to as the worlds oldest profession. Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the customers residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escorts residence or in a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (called in-call). Another form is street prostitution. Sex tourism refers to travelling, typically from developed to under-developed nations, to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. Sex trafficking, one type of human trafficking is defined as using coercion or force to transport an unwilling person into prostitution or other sexual exploitation. Prostitute is derived from the Latin prostituta. Some sources cite the verb as a composition of pro meaning up front or forward and situere, defined as to offer up for sale†. Another explanation is that prostituta is a composition of pro and stature (to cause to stand, to station, place erect). A literal translation therefore would be: to put up front for sale or to place forward. The online Etymology Dictionary states, The notion of sex for hire is not inherent in the etymology, which rather suggests one exposed to lust or sex indiscriminately offered. The word prostitute was then carried down through various languages to the present-day Western society. Most sex worker activists groups reject the word prostitute and since the late 1970s have used the term sex worker instead. However, a sex worker can also mean anyone who works within the sex industry or whose work is of a sexual nature and is not limited solely to prostitutes. A variety of terms are used for those who engage in prostitution, some of which distinguish between different types of prostitution or imply a value judgment about them. Common alternatives for prostitute include escort and whore; however, not all professional escorts are prostitutes. The English word whore derives from the Old English word hora, from the proto-Germanic kohoron (prostitute), which derives from the proto-Indo-European root ka meaning desire, a root which has also given us the Latin caritas (love, charity) and the French cher (dear, expensive). Use of the word whore is widely considered pejorative, especially in its modern slang form of ho. In Germany, however, most prostitutes organizations deliberately use the word Hure (whore) since they feel that prostitute is a bureaucratic term. Those seeking to remove the social stigma associated with prostitution often promote terminology such as sex worker, commercial sex worker (CSW), tantric engineer (coined by author Robert Anton Wilson), or sex trade worker. Another commonly-used word for a prostitute is hooker. Although a popular etymology connects hooker with Joseph Hooker, a Union general in the American Civil War, the word more likely comes from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlears Hook area of Manhattan in the 1820s, who came to be referred to as hookers. A streetwalker solicits customers on the streets or in public places, while a call girl makes appointments by phone. Correctly or not, use of the word prostitute without specifying a sex may commonly be assumed to be female; compound terms such as male prostitution or male escort are therefore often used to identify males. Those offering services to female customers are commonly known as gigolos; those offering services to male customers are hustlers or rent boys. Organizers of prostitution may be known as pimps (if male) and madams or Mama-san (if female). More formally, one who is said to practice procuring is a procurer, or procuress. The clients of prostitutes are also known as johns or tricks in North America and punters in the British Isles. These slang terms are used among both prostitutes and law enforcement for persons who solicit prostitutes. The term john may have originated from the frequent customer practice of giving ones name as John, a common name in English-speaking countries, in an effort to maintain anonymity. In some places, men who drive around red-light districts for the purpose of soliciting prostitutes are also known as kerb crawlers.