The discussion concerning people who sell sex is arguably one of the most polarized debates in terms of sexuality discourse. Each side holds an extreme ideological stance that founds itself in rigid ideas about morality, agency, the influence of patriarchy, and the role of the state. The two sides are categorized as actors that view these women as "agents" of sexual activity or "victims" of exploitation. These factions influence the conversations and practices in terms of selling sex, human trafficking, and labor migration. An examination of how the opposing factions view the status of women the highlights ways that patriarchy and neoliberal capitalism inform the discussion.
The "victim" argument is that all women who are in the sex economy
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are victims of economic, sexual and gender-based exploitation and that women cannot advance in society until we abolish this industry. In order to gain support for this narrative the anti-prostitution advocates center their argument in morality (Weitzer 2008: 448). Abolitionists claim, " that the sex industry should be entirely eliminated because of its objectification and oppressive treatment of women, considered to be inherent in sex for sale (Weitzer 2008: 450). This is a moral argument that relies on traditional western ideas of sex, gender, and the lower status of women in both categories. Moreover, this framework allows for the religious right and the radical feminist movement to claim a shared goal of eliminating gender inequality and sexual manipulation, which creates a powerful oppositional argument. With the backing of religion, radical feminism, and national legislation these advocates have a stable foundation through which they can cultivate a moral revolution (Weitzer 2008: 448-450). In order to create change anti-prostitution, " activists seek to generate widespread public concern about a problem and lobby political elites to either intensify punishment of offenders or criminalize acts that were previously legal" (Weitzer 2008: 448).
One way to achieve this goal is to conflate prostitution and human trafficking. In the Kempadoo article she explains that the anti-trafficking is a women led white savior movement to protect "fallen sisters" (Kempadoo 2005: x). Additionally, this understanding of the situation continues to paint women as victims of male domination reinforcing patriarchal views of women in the workforce. Due to the societal understanding of trafficking as inherently forceful, presenting all women in prostitution as trafficking victims encourages a public outcry in the name of saving disadvantaged women (Bernstein 2010: 50). According to Ronald Weitzer this is a moral crusade that appeals to people's ideas that prostitution is evil by definition (Weitzer 2008: 451). Moral crusades rely on societies acceptance of women as sexually passive and therefore " workers do not actively make choices to enter or remain in prostitution, and there is no such thing as voluntary migration for the purpose of sex work" (Weitzer 2008: 452-53), constructing the entire system as forced and denies labor rights and agency. Additionally, the moral perspective allows for the construction of men who buy sex as people who fall under the sexual predator category, instead of just regular men, reinforcing that notion that the system is made for, and by, people who are interested in hurting women (Weitzer 2008: 452-453). Furthermore, it also frames men, "real men", as the saviors due to patriarchal ideas of masculinity. In order to stop women from being hurt by evil men who force them to sell their bodies against their desire the entire system must be eradicated; which will in turn lead to more gender equality because the selling of sex continues the idea that
women are sexual objects to be consumed by capitalist consumers. In absolute contrast with this argument lay the activists who believe that sex work is a job that should be regulated and legalized in order to limit the ability of people to abuse women. This position's ideological basis is that the sale of sex can, and is, a form of sexual and personal agency that should not be denied to the women who chose to participate. Additionally, as to counteract the victim narrative, which paints women as solely prostitutes and denies empowerment, this side attempts to separate the women from the work they do, as a way to reinforce the idea that it is a job (Koken 2010: 31). The need to separate these women as people from their occupation illustrates the influence of patriarchal notions of sex and gender-based deviance (Koken 2010: 35). Sex work activists use a capitalist and pro-sex framework in order to illustrate the ways that legalizing sex work increases protection of workers and decreases stigma and violence.
“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
Dianne Post, an international human rights attorney currently living in Pheonix, Arizona, presents the audience with a few main points that should be looked at when determining the legalities involved with prostitution. Her first point is that if prostitution were to be legalized/ decriminalized, true equality for women would be non-existent. She argues that the legalization ultimately just makes the woman available for men’s sexual access at their disposal. Also, she states that basic human rights would be violated and activities that in any other situation would be considered legally actionable, such as “rape, captivity, economic coercion, or damaging verbal abuse” (Post 1), would then become normalized. Her second argument states that by listening to the voice of the very women involved in sex work we can discover...
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.
In sociology, the term deviance refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness (Essentials of Sociology 136). Deviance is an individual or organizational behavior that violates societal norms and is usually accompanied by negative reactions from others. According to a sociologist S. Becker, he stated that it is not the act itself that makes an action deviant, but rather how society reacts to it.
Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Print.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
Throughout America and the entire world, prostitution flourishes. Prostitution is another never ending war like abortion, which society feels is immoral. This immorality leads functionalists, who apply functionalism to this social problem, on a chase to figure out why prostitution is what it is today. Functionalism is the best theory for looking at prostitution. It allows us to see how prostitution changes along with other aspects of society.
It is weakness, not sex work that makes victims. Sex specialists ought to appreciate the same work rights as different ,laborers and the same human ,rights as other ,individuals. Prostitution is not simply a trade of sexual favors; it is a money related trade. As of right now, feminists ascend to protect the free, market and additionally ,a lady's self-proprietorship. This is communicated, by the inquiry: Prostitution ,is a ,mix of sex, and the free ,market. Which ,one would, you, say ,you are
Next time, it might be sensible to think twice before branding a prostitute as a no good, dirty tramp with little to no ethics. These thoughts were exactly what second-wave feminism, centered in the 1960s to 80s, aimed to disprove as they created many new changes in American culture, the perceptions surrounding the concept of female sexuality. Under the category of sexuality exists the practice or profession of engaging in intimate acts with an individual for reward, also recognized as prostitution. Though Feminists took great strides to enable women to assert their sexuality in a liberal fashion and without fear, many second-wave feminists still condemned prostitution as “sexual slavery”, since, according to Otchet (as cited in “Should Prostitution Be Legal”), many women's groups viewed prostitutes as victims, while others considered them sex workers with rights. In reality, prostitution supported Feminist views on the way women should be identified in society, because prostitutes could determine who they serviced, prostitution broke stereotypical characterizations, and, women could display their sexuality.
Since prostitution has been around there have been labels and stigmas behind the workers, their morals and the job itself. Leaving these men and women to be rejected rights, health care, insurance, etc. Weitzer observes, “[i]nstead of viewing themselves as ‘prostituted,’ they may embrace more neutral work identities, such as ‘working women’ or ‘sex workers’ […] These workers are invisible in the discourse of the anti-prostitution crusade precisely because their accounts clash with abolitionist goals.” Weitzer is hinting at the fact that these women and men see themselves as workers too, deserving of workers rights and protection, just as you and I would expect. But they are declined help and benefits because of the stigma following their line of work, based on societal values.
The most popular opinion is the view that prostitution is the epitome of the female state under the firm thumb of the patriarchy (Scoular, 2004). As much as it has been argued that many prostitutes are empowered by the choice to sell their services as sex workers, it is important to acknowledge that the “highly gendered nature” (Scoular, 2004, p. 348) of the sex industry creates an environment for male domination and could be considered to be “the absolute embodiment of patriarchal male privilege” (p. 219). Moreover, the gender oppression model agrees that prostitution fundamentally involves male domination over women in the sex work industry (Weitzer, 2007). For example, the physical and psychological abuse endured by female prostitutes in both street-based and indoor industries by predominantly male managers and customers is ubiquitous, and has been said to be “ineradicable” (Weitzer, 2007, p. 143). However, while it would be incorrect to assume that mistreatment in prostitution in minor, it is important to understand that it is not present in all sex work.
The exploitation of prostitution is considered to be one of a serious global issue in most of the countries around the world. Also, the number of prostitution is increasing tremendously each year and seems to be more serious than the past centuries. However, yet very few to none of the countries have completely solved this problem. Saudi Arabia and Netherlands are two examples of the countries that prostitution is still considered to be a problem that the government of both countries cannot ignore. There are different solutions that Saudi Arabia and Netherlands have come up with to solve the problem.
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