Defining Prostitution
A prostitute is an individual who will engage in sexually relevant activity (to the client) with strangers or other persons with whom the individual has no affectional relationship in exchange for money or other valuable materials that are given at or near the time of the act
Prostitute
A seller of sexual services who is free from physical coercion by the customer
A prostitute receives money from the customer that is paid directly rather than through gifts or an intermediary
A prostitute engages in sexual activities with a large number of persons
The prostitute relationship is transient and impersonal
Legal Status of Prostitution in the Americas
Prostitution is illegal in the U.S. except for certain counties in Nevada
Prostitution is legal in Canada but it is illegal to solicit, to work in, own, or patronize a brothel, or to procure for the purpose of prostitution
Prostitution is legal in Mexico in special “zones of tolerance”
Prostitution is legal in Cuba, Brazil, and Venezuela
Outside of the Americas prostitution is legal in countries such as England (but not to advertise or run a brothel), France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden (selling is legal but buying is not), Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore
In some other countries prostitution is technically illegal but widely tolerated (Japan, Thailand)
Common Misconceptions about Prostitutes
Prostitutes are promiscuous
Most prostitutes are not “nymphomaniacs”
Most prostitutes enjoy sex with their clients
Most prostitutes do not enjoy sex with clients; this varies by type of prostitute
Seduction is a male fantasy
Many prostitutes are drug addicts
Relatively few drug addicts rely on prostitution to support drug habits, but drug use is common among prostitutes
The effects of drug addict prostitutes can be significant because of the number of clients with whom they come in contact. There is greater likelihood of robbery, assault, and STDs
Prostitutes are somewhat less sexually responsive than non-prostitutes
Prostitutes are somewhat more sexually responsible than non-prostitutes as measured by capacity for orgasm
Prostitutes are homosexual
Prostitutes are not generally homosexual, but many prostitutes turn to other women for love relationships
Prostitutes are often the product of "white slavery"
Prostitutes are rarely enslaved in western societies, but exploitation of runaways and immigrants is common and child selling is commonplace in some societies
(e.g., Thailand)
Prostitutes are dangerous transmitters of AIDS
Earlier in history prostitutes were responsible for as much as 75% of venereal disease, but male clients are more likely to be major transmitters of AIDS
TYPES OF PROSTITUTES
Crack House Prostitute
Employee of the house and may live in house
Any type of sex to any house client
Payment in the form of drugs
Streetwalker
Less attractive and educated
More likely to contract STDs
More likely to be arrested
More likely to victimize clients (robbery) or be victimized by them (robber, rape, perversion)
Bar Girl
Majority operate in lower class taverns
Most are young (17-25) and have limited education
Most are part-time prostitutes (bar maids, waitresses)
Upper status prostitutes operate in hotel bars
Avoid indiscreet hustling, work through hotel employees
House Prostitute
Most houses of prostitution closed in the 1940s
More sexual inspection of clients
Receive training in sexual acts and client interaction
Share profits with operator
Operate primarily in the daylight hours
Massage Parlor Prostitute
License (medical checks) makes massage parlor prostitute more desirable
Four types: straight massages with occasional “locals”, straight massages with occasional sexual intercourse for tips, prostitutes using massage parlor as cover, college educated women seeking income and benefits
Call Girl
More highly educated, sophisticated, expensively dressed
Usually work by phone
Skilled in making commercial transaction appear non-commercial
PROSTITUTE CAREERS
Nanette Davis
Study of 30 prostitutes from three Minnesota correctional institutions (reformatory, workhouse, and training school)
Stages of Prostitution
Stage 1: Drift from Casual Sex to Prostitution
Women introduced to sexual intercourse at a relatively young age (7-18 with mean of 14), typically with older boyfriend. Some women also reported traumatic sexual experiences with relatives. Early sexuality resulted from
High levels of family permissiveness leading to association with older males at parties, neighbors, on the street
Low family social control
Peer group norms encouraging early sexuality
Sexuality was associated with freedom (escape from family)
First sexual experience was meaningless and conformity was the predominant motive
Childhood and adolescent years were characterized by
Family instability (drunkenness, violence, poverty, parental absenteeism, unmanageably large family)
Separation from family common (foster homes, relatives
Definitions as troubled children by adults
Time spent in an institution (juvenile home, training school) for truancy, incorrigibility, sex delinquency
First prostitution in late adolescence
Facilitated by institutional experience where the hustling role is learned
Frequently associated with escape from an institutional environment
An instrumental act of social and financial emancipation
Sources of recruitment
Peer group expectations
Pimp-manager relationship
Adolescent rebellion
Dominant motivations
Excitement and risk of street life
Dull, undirected existence
Isolation from conventional supports
Lure of easy money
Stage II: Transitional Deviance
Average length was six months
Vacillation between conventional (job, school, living at home) and deviant behavior
Occasional hustling
Characterized by on-the-job learning with postponed self-definition as prostitute
“Normalization” of prostitution as casual sex
Continuation in prostitution is most contingent on economic motivation, although other motives such as loneliness, pimp control, drug addiction may also contribute
Continuation also requires an adequate learning period uninterrupted by arrest
Self-definition as a prostitute compelled by various factors
Pimp’s movement from lover to exploiter
Contact with the criminal justice system
Public exposure
Transitional skill acquisition
Willingness to provide diverse sexual services
Loss of fear at servicing odd clients
Understanding of police surveillance and entrapment techniques
Recognition of problematic clients
Substitution of a business ethic for a game/excitement ethic
Stage III: Professionalization
Self-identification as a prostitute
Discovery that the life is difficult but not a disgrace
Prestige follows the acquisition of money (although most money goes to the pimp), which is used to sustain a luxurious lifestyle
The ideology defines men as providing an outlet for men with an unlimited sex drive
Some prostitutes turn to women for sexual gratification as men are defined as “tricks” or become bisexual
Lesbianism is also fostered by imprisonment, impersonal sex with men, and hustler norms advocating female sex relationships
THE PIMP
Pimps refer to themselves as “players” and to prostitution as “the game”
Three levels of pimps
Macs - employ many hardworking, successful prostitutes. Prostitutes least likely to describe pimp in terms of love or a relationship and more likely to describe infatuation, admiration, loyalty. Prostitutes most likely to refer to themselves as “wives-in-law” and as members of a family. The “bottom bitch” may be responsible for training new prostitutes.
Players - average stable of women, making a good living. The largest category
Tennis shoe pimps – one or two prostitutes, who are likely to use drugs. Prostitutes most likely to describe pimp in terms of love of a relationship
Turning Out Women
Impress women with looks, possessions, capacity to create adventure and excitement
Capacity to assess a woman’s needs and vulnerabilities
Discourage drug abuse
Create goals for women
Beginning with a courting or honeymoon period and gradually introducing the prostitution agenda
Pimp Organization
Pimps view prostitution as free enterprise
Seducing prostitutes from other pimps’ stables is acceptable
Prostitutes can also “choose up”
Prostitutes who relate to an alternative pimp without choosing up are subject to being “broken”
Maintaining Control
Control is dependent on arousing love and fear
Treat the prostitute in loving ways in return for brining in money. The prostitute must work hard, request little emotionally or financially, and accept the pimp’s generosity
Fear is aroused by being emotionally unpredictable and by using violence for violations of the rules (leaving the ho stroll without making the daily quota, holding back money, freelancing)
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