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Essay on prostitution as an ethical dilemma
Prostitution and ethics
The theoretical nature of prostitution The feminism and functionalism aspect of prostitution
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This essay will explore the question of whether prostitution should be seen as a job like any other through several key issues relating to the sex trade industry. The argument against prostitution as a job for women will be supported by various feminist theories. By following the discourse of prostitution as a chosen profession by women and the implication of the choice in the society, this essay will provide academic findings in answering the key issues in the sex workers profession. This essay will discuss the politics of women’s choice through prostitution and how feminist views have influenced it. The moral aspects of prostitution will be highlighted as well. The relationship of violence and abuse with prostitution is another key findings …show more content…
In most cases, prostitution is not a conscious and calculated choice (MacKinnon). Most women who become prostitutes do so due to force or coercion by human trafficking or a pimp. When it is an independent decision, it is usually the result of extreme poverty and lack of opportunity, or other underlying problems such as drug addiction and past trauma, that drives women to choose prostitution to make ends meet (Farley 1998). MacKinnon (2009) argues that in prostitution, women have sex with men they would otherwise never have sex with. The money acts as a form of force, acting like physical force does in rape (MacKinnon 2009). True consent in prostitution is not possible. As mentioned by Barbara Sullivan (2010), prostitution is always a coercive sexual practice whether it is economic or physical coercion that makes the sexual consent of sex works highly problematic if not impossible. Abolitionists believe no individual can be said to truly consent to their own oppression and no one should have the right to consent the oppression of others. Kathleen Barry (1995) theorised that there is no effective measurement to the degree of consent as oppression, just like slavery, has some consent if consent is defined as inability to see or find any …show more content…
Prostitution is often argued as a consequence of gender inequality (Hoffman 1997). MacKinnon agree that sexual liberation for women outside of prostitution is important in the fight for gender equality but it is crucial for the society to not replace one patriarchal view, for example that women should not have sex outside marriage or a relationship, with another similar oppressive patriarchal view. By accepting prostitution, a sexual practice that is based on a patriarchal construction of female sexuality, the society condemns sexual pleasure of women irrelevant and that her role during sex is to submit to the man’s sexual demand and control. Women become yet another submissive gender as she has to do what her customer tells her and her response or satisfaction is left neglected. Sexual liberation for women cannot be fulfilled as long as the society normalise unequal sexual practices where a man dominates a woman (Hoffman
She tries to investigate the reasons why these women are in the profession, their interactions with their ‘pimps’ and customers, their attitudes towards safe sex in light of the AIDS endemic, and above all, prostitution’s link to drug use. Her basic thesis revolves around these women’s thoughts and feelings regarding prostitution and the effect it has on their lives. Through her research, Sterk uncovers a demographic that ranges from 18-59 years in age, is largely African-American, and that most have completed high school. As these women reveal more about themselves, it becomes apparent that there is a spectrum of opinion regarding controversial topics such as drug use and safe sex. Many women admitted to not having used a condom with a partner who they were aware had HIV/AIDS.
== == Throughout the UK and internationally, the issue of prostitution is seen as an ever-increasing problem. For the purpose of this assignment I will concentrate on the issue of prostitution within the United Kingdom. There has been a marked rise in the incidence of street prostitution since the 1980s and a growth in the proportion of intravenous drug users involved in street prostitution. In Glasgow, police estimate that ar... ...
“There is no difference in work in which a women sells her hands, such as a typist, and a work in which a women sells her vagina, as in sex work.” Claims author Lacy Sloan. In today’s society, many people believe that prostitution is an immoral act. It is the world’s oldest profession and because it has been long condemned, sex workers are stigmatized from mainstream society (ProQuest Staff). However, the act of purchasing sex between consenting adults should not be prohibited by the government, but regulated for society's overall best interests. Prostitution is illegal and as a consequence prostitutes are often victims of violence and sexual assault; therefore, prostitution should be legalized and regulated to ensure the safety of sex workers.
International human rights lawyer Dianne Post has described the institution of prostitution as founded on the principle of “structural inequality by gender, class and race”, in essence painting sex work as the exploitation women of low economic standing merely because they are desperate enough to perform it (Datta & Post 3). Admittedly, sex work is a primarily female profession, though the Internet has lead to growing populations of transgender and male sex workers from the most liberal areas, such as California, to the most restrictive, like South Africa (Minichiello, Victor, Scott, and Callander), but there is simply to little data discussing these population groups to draw any definite conclusions. Where Post loses sight of her larger argument, that women should be treated as equals, is when she decidedly paints women as the victims of prostitution. This argument has blatant hypocrisy in that it ignores the fact that the majority of women participating in sex work are not trafficked sex slaves, but women willingly exchanging money for sexual acts, who are capable of facing the consequences of these actions. In fact, it is an extension of this argument that assumes that women cannot be held responsible for their actions that constitutes one of the primary failings of the Nordic
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.
All around present day pop culture, the demonstration of prostitution is regularly seen as questionable concerning many different moral issues. Prostitution could be characterized as "To offer (oneself or another) in sexual intercourse for money,” and is normally given as an underground administration. Although the practice is unlawful in most places,it has been denoted as a "suitable" occupation hotspot for some people throughout the world. Most of the people who do tend to sell themselves to others for money are, for the most part, women. However men do sometime turn the wrong way and end up in the streets confused themselves. Prostitution raises numerous moral issues coming about, because of the corrupting of one's body through offering a sexual administration that is broadly accessible. The typical discussion as to whether this form of “making money” is ethically wrong concentrates on if the corrupting of one's body could really be acknowledged as assault, and if the people who partake in prostitution might be perpetually forced into this calling, whether it be bad circumstances or them just being unwilling to find another occupation.
With prostitution still arising and thriving in present day America the Argument and war waged on it by media has changed from an advocated perspective, to being seen as present day slavery among women. Especially with modern practices of forced trafficking and drugged prostitution. the views have changed from one of a women's private and personal freedom of choice, to one of "the ones who weren't lucky enough to get away from being drugged, kidnapped and forced into slaved prostitution."
Elizabeth Anderson makes a claim that “The attempt to sell gift value on the market makes a mockery of those values.”(Anderson 188) Anderson uses this claim to object commoditized sex (prostitution). There are two premises that Anderson uses to support her claim. The first premise being the gift value of sex cannot be realized in commercial terms and the second premise being that the gift value of sex is more significant that the use value of sex itself.
According to the Sex Workers Project, “Sex work is a term used to refer to all aspects of the lawful and unlawful sex industry” (Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, 2005). This includes the lived experiences of anyone engaging in sexual transactions. However, before engaging in discussion about this topic, it is important to understand the very distinct differences between sex work and human trafficking within the context of sex industry. This industry is extremely diverse and might include porn actors, street sex workers, dancers, escorts, indoor sex workers, or people who have been trafficked or enslaved. Human trafficking refers to anyone who is being traded, sold, coerced, or forced to engage in sex for money, drugs, or something else. Usually, the victim is not being compensated, but someone else is benefiting from these transactions. Conversely, sex workers are people who are choosing to engage in the sex industry for various reasons. Some of these might include economics, addiction, or even personal empowerment. For the purposes of our discussion, we will mainly be discussing street and indoor sex work.
Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Print.
Some ask why prostitution spreads like a wildfire through our cities and streets. This is an easy question for functionalists, prostitution flourishes because it satisfies sexual needs that are not able to be met elsewhere(Henslin 51). Prostitutes almost seem to serve as an outlet for sexually frustrated men. When a man is unable to find a partner he always holds the option of paying for sexual pleasure. A functionalist, Kingsley Davis, concluded that prostitutes provide a sexual outlet for men who: have difficulty in establishing sexual relationships, cannot find long-term partners, have a broken relationship, want sexual gratification that is defined as immoral, desire quick sexual gratification without attachment, are curious, and are sexually dissatisfied in marriage. From this it is shown that by meeting such needs prostitution functions as a form of social control over sexual behavior. This is beneficial because it brings men with sexual desires away from unwi...
In conclusion, prostitution is said to be the world’s oldest profession. Prostitution has evolved throughout the years and it has caused much controversy cross-culturally and historically and which has many individuals reexamining the logistics of it. It has affected our society in many ways, for it could be looked at as a harmful threat just as a way to get by and pay the bills.
Arguments and academic literature have long discussed prostitution as global inequalities that have been generated by the international neoliberal market. The international sex market is underpinned by this international neoliberal market and commodified bodies that are arranged into both a gendered and racial hierarchies. Both men and women are exploited within this market where privileged, Western tourists can travel abroad to experience sexual or romantic encounters with prostitutes in foreign countries. These ‘foreign’ prostitutes are structurally at a disadvantage within these relationships with sex tourists or human traffickers. Literature discussing prostitution has more often than not challenged “whether prostitution is an example, or emblematic, of women’s oppression” and “whether it is a form of economic exploitation.” However, male prostitute has largely been absent from that discussion. Furthermore, global migration is increasingly becoming feminised through the production and consumption of the international sex market. Women are involved in the tourism industry through various service jobs from hotel staff to sex workers. There are many factors that have pushed women to be migratory in work, among them are poverty, barriers to employment in their home country, decreasing socio-economic conditions of certain countries, and gendered ideas over what types of work women can participate in. However, these factors are not experienced by women along, men in vulnerable positions are increasingly having similar experiences. Ultimately, the global sex market will continue to grow as both the production of sexual services through human trafficking and the consumption through sex tourism are both significantly increasing alongside the global tourism industry.
They argue that it is a consensual action of sex amongst adults, therefore a victimless crime. However, they overlook the fact that it is an action that can cause psychological problems to the society by naming the society and the prostitutes themselves as the victims of the crime. In other cases, the victims of prostitution are forced to engage in the business. It is either a force created by someone else or a force created by circumstances which are unfortunate. Unfortunate circumstances that force individuals to engage in prostitution can include; lack of opportunities, poverty, drug addiction, neglect and child abuse, just to name a
In many cases society has tried to tell you that prostitution is bad, weather it is through movies, books, religious text and many other influential aspects of society, due to the nature of the people who they portray in the act. I believe if people were properly educated into the science of sex, having sex for money would not be considered such a bad thing. When I attended prep school, I met many other kids from Europe, and let’s sat they were a little more comfortable with their sexuality, and in a few of their countries prostitution was even legal.