Prostitution : The World 's Oldest Profession

Since the beginning of time prostitution has been a part of our world 's culture, and it is said that it is the world 's oldest profession. Man has always been equally participated and felt the need to pay for services of a sexual nature since the beginning of time, whether it was legal or not. During 19th century woman who belonged to lower class family might have worked in order to support her family, in harsh times. During that time as farther away a woman moved from the mother and home, the lower her status became. Prostitution was clearly seen as disrespectful; the prostitute was at the bottom of society’s status chain. “During the late 19th- and early 20th century, the nature of society forced the working class women of Eau Claire to take advantage of any means to support themselves, including prostitution. Each woman had to decide herself which work option best supported her financially.”(Schaar.A) The wages these women earned were unbelievably low, and at times as much as 80% lower than the wages men earned. Back in those days there weren’t many jobs

Prostitution is said to be “the world’s oldest profession” (Ramchandran par. 1). The Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines prostitution as “the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money” (“Prostitution” par. 1). Many people argue that prostitution should be legalized, but it hurts people more than it helps. Legalization of prostitution condones sexual behavior for profit. Not to mention, the increased risk of illness or infection via sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), or death. It also does not “enhance women’s choices” (Raymond par. 45). This means that whether

Burstyn highlights that these changes altered the social and economic role of women during the nineteenth-century . She goes on to point out that there were great pressures on middle-class women not to work during this period and explains that ‘leisure women’ were symbols of the economic success of their male relatives . Burstyn suggests that marriage was vital for a woman as it was argued men needed to protect women because of their physical weakness . According to the ideal of womanhood, the home became a place where only women spent their lives and thus the ideal woman was morally pure and a guardian of the home . Burstyn also considers the contemporary issue of education for women by suggesting that if women were to become financially independent, they may no longer have the desire to marry for economic stability . If women remained unmarried, then men would, in theory, be forced to gain sexual gratification from the ‘Social Evil’: prostitutes . In the nineteenth century, the term ‘prostitute’ was used in a much wider context to how we would use it today. Judith Flanders explains that it referred to women who: were living with men outside marriage, had had illegitimate children, or women who perhaps had relations with men, but for pleasure rather than money . It is important to

In a review by the New York Times, the author, Stephen Holder, highlights the context surrounding prostitution in each different country. From Thailand having a high end brothel ran by rich Asian men, to Bangladesh full of towering, run down apartments oversaw by madams,

It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,

“The demand is the result of a simple biological appetite. When all other sources of gratification fail, due to defects of person or circumstance, prostitution can be relied upon to furnish relief” (Davis, 753). Prostitution in a latent sense saves marriages and allows men to fulfill their sexual desires. “Prostitution embraces an economic relation, and is naturally connected with the entire system of economic forces” (Davis, 749). One societal function that prostitution fills is a release for those who desire the prostitute (latent) and a source of income for the prostitute (manifest).

　　Women remain the victims of both direct and indirect forms of male oppression after the second world war. When thinking about trades or exchange that have been around for years, prostitution is not the first that comes to mind - we think of the exchange of products from one person to another, yet it (prostitution) is claimed to be one of the oldest [profession].

Often times referred to as the “World’s Oldest Profession”, prostitution can be dated back to the Sumerian records which displayed it as a typical woman's profession. Up until the nineteenth century any woman who stepped outside of social boundaries, such as owning property or walking alone in public was basically considered a whore. Though originally the act of prostitution was legal in the United States, the main influence that drove it down was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union which later led to the White-Slave Traffic Act. The Act, passed on June 25, 1910, made it a crime to transport a woman across state lines for "immoral" purposes. Today each state has it’s own penalties for the prostitute, the customer, the pimp, and the brothel

Prostitution, as stated by Flemming, is known as a form of sexual activity, a kind of sexual style or category, and a form of economic activity, a way of making a living through the provisions of certain services, by behaving in accordance with, or falling into such a category (39). This definition, though, is controversial. While conducting research for this project, we found that most topics regarding prostitution and its affiliates were controversial. Each author gave a differing interpretation for the same data. Due to this, our project centered on the female prostitutes, even though there is evidence of male prostitutes.

Prostitution is often regarded as the world’s oldest profession. As immoral and illegal as it may be regarded, it is still a profession that is utilized by people today. Commercial Sex, as it is sometimes called, is the business or practice of engaging in sexual relations in exchange for payment or some other benefit. Prostitution is just one of the many branches of the sex industry and is possibly the largest. Prostitution is primarily targeted towards male clientele but the profession ranges from females to males and even adults to children. Ancient Grecian history holds a large historical record of the profession and has revealed much of the experiences and behavior of the profession. Greece was a nation divided on social hierarchy, superior classes enjoyed some special rights and benefits over the inferior ones. Prostitution held its own standard in hierarchy and provided services differently to the different social classes. Pornai were at the bottom of the scale serving lower and middle class clients, while Hetaera were high-class prostitutes and escorts typically serving the upper-class clients. Male prostitutes and child slaves, although less common, were also in the sex industry at the time.

A study done by Joanna Phoenix in 2000 discusses “women’s sustained involvement in prostitution. In the late twentieth century it is taken for granted that women’s involvement in prostitution can be explained in terms of poverty and/or vulnerability to predatory men. However, closer examination of the stories that prostitute-women recount reveals that their narratives are marked by a paradox that inheres in the contradictory effects of involvement in prostitution and the antithetical representations of prostitution offered by the women.” (Phoenix 37) In the study Phoenix does not support or go against either side. Her studies primarily argue that women freely enter into prostitution because of economic rewards, she also argues that their continued involvement makes sense with in their social and material conditions in which they live. (Phoenix 38) Secondly

Prostitution is defined as the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been around since the beginning of human society. The first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). It is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with different ways to exchange sexual services for payment and many different types of prostitutes. One of these types of prostitutes are brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized or is legalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.

Prostitution is often considered to be one of the oldest professions in history. All that someone needs would be someone willing to give their body to other people in exchange for monetary compensation. However, this kind of act is considered criminal by many societies and as such time is often served by those who are caught participating in the act of prostitution on either side. While the punishments, convictions, and sanctions vary from state to state and nation to nation it has all lead to forcing this act to be done out of the line of sight of the law. With the earliest known example of prostitution occurring in the Ancient Near East where sacred prostitution was practiced in shrines and temples under various deities of the region (Godley 1920). Since then the market for prostitution has grown to expand

In a research study done in 2014, by Printah Printer Nkala, looked at the origins of prostitution. His research found that the sex practice dated back to the “genesis of mankind”. He continues to exclaim that “It appears to have been in every age men who did not avail themselves to the marriage covenant, but drive by sexual instincts for illegitimate sexual pleasures who were satisfied by wicked women”. Prostitution exists in every society (Nkala, 2014).

Prostitution forms an age-worn but interesting chapter in the history of civilization and presents an important problem for modern society. All civilized countries have offered solutions, none of which are satisfactory, and only a few of them have even modified its baneful influence. We commonly speak of prostitution as being the oldest of the professions, but in the light of historical investigation, this is hardly in keeping with the truth.