Prostitution and Human Trafficking

Prostitution has been referred to as the oldest profession. Prostitutes can be found in every city and country across the globe. There are a large number of individuals who are currently in the United States and around the world who can be classified as a prostitute. They are expanding from the traditional street level prostitutes to highly paid, high class, prostitutes or escorts. Yet, what exactly would drive those men and women to pursue this class of work, once in this type of work what keeps them motivated to continue on with such work?

Prostitution is the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money. Prostitutes can be of either gender, male or female, and can engage in a verity of sexual activity, both heterosexual and homosexual, in return for money or other valuables. “We can say with some confidence that wherever there have been money, goods, or services to be bartered, somebody has bartered them for sex” (Head, 2013).

Motives behind why an individual would enter into sex work can be very diverse. In reality each prostitute may have their own unique reason in consideration to entering the world of prostitution. Yet, no matter what that motive may be, there are four main root influential factors that push people into prostitution. “Considering entry or background motives for sex work, four elements stand out: financial, sexual, recreational motives, and coercion” (Vanwesenbeeck, 2012). When indivuals enter into prostitution work they look for money, they may have sexual influences that pulled them into sex work, there is a fun factor, and others may have been forced into it.

Whether male or female, the biggest motive in engaging into sex work, without a doubt, is to earn money,...

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...eone who has been trusted by them, and then took advantage of that trust to control the prostitute.

Many of those prostitutes in the business may see prostitution to be too beneficial to them despite the dangers and risks, so they continue to prostitute themselves. The law attempts to protect against the harms of prostitutions by criminalizing prostitution. However, prostitutes will continue to sell sex when the benefits are seen to outweigh the risk.

Bibliography

Hayes-Smith, R. (2010). Why is prostitution criminalized? An alternative viewpoint on the contruction of sex work. Contemproray Justice Review, 44-55.

Marcin, S. (2013). The FBI, Federal Bureai of Investigation. Retrieved from Prostitution and Human Trafficking: A Paradigm Shift: FBI.GOV

Vanwesenbeck, I. (2013). Prostitution Puch and Pull: Male and Female Perspectives . Journal of Sex Research, 11-16.