Prostitution

Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. A person selling sexual services is a prostitute, a type of sex worker. In a more general sense of the word, anyone selling their services for a cause thought to be unworthy can be described as prostituting themselves.

Socio-economic and legal status of prostitution

There is a significant range in the socioeconomic status of prostitutes in Western countries. At the low end, a significant number of prostitutes are also drug addicts who use prostitution to pay for their habit, sometimes referred to as 'crack whores' because of the prevalence of this behavior among some communities of crack cocaine users. At the other end of the spectrum, 'high class' prostitutes may charge very high prices for their services and may be very selective about their clients.

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In many countries, illegal immigrants work in prostitution, sometimes against their will and generally in circumstances where they feel they have no other choice. Often these prostitutes are kept in financial debt by the brothel owners, who charge them for their travel and other costs. The arrangement may be such that the prostitutes can never earn enough to pay off the debt. The term used for forcing people into prostitution is "sexual slavery".

Related Topics:
Illegal immigrant - Sexual slavery

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In addition to the first world, this also takes place in countries of South Asia such as India and Thailand, where young girls are sometimes sold to brothel owners. In modern day Thailand and India this is becoming much rarer.

Related Topics:
Asia - India - Thailand

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Thailand is a destination of sex tourists, travellers from rich countries in search of cheap sexual services. Other popular sex tourism destinations are Brazil, the Caribbean, and former eastern bloc countries.

Related Topics:
Sex tourists - Brazil - Caribbean - Eastern bloc

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Female prostitutes, especially street prostitutes, are commonly associated with a pimp, a man who lives off the proceeds of several prostitutes and may offer some protection in return. The relationship between pimp and prostitute is often abusive. In areas where legal restrictions on prostitution are greatest, the power of pimps over prostitutes can actually be increased by the illegality of prostitution. For example, in Finland, the immigration law allows the state to deport immigrants suspected of prostitution without a trial; thus in cases of physical abuse by the pimps, the prostitutes cannot even resort to the police.

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There are other commercial sexual activities that are generally not classified as prostitution. These include acting and modeling for pornographic materials, even if this involves engaging in sexual intercourse; exotic dancing, which is naked, sexually provocative acting (sometimes involving masturbation) without physical contact with the customer;

Related Topics:
Pornographic - Sexual intercourse - Exotic dancing - Masturbation

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lap dancing, where the dancer may come into contact with the customer in sexually provocative but strictly limited ways; and the services of professional dominants.

Related Topics:
Lap dancing - Professional dominant

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In the case California v. Freeman, the California Supreme Court ruled that adult film makers could not be prosecuted under state laws against prostitution.

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Legality of selling sex

In many countries, buying and selling sex among adults is legal, but many associated activities are not. These include advertising, solicitation and pimping, as well as owning, operating or working in a brothel.

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At one end of the legal spectrum, prostitution carries the death penalty in some Muslim countries; at the other end, prostitutes are tax-paying and unionised professionals in the Netherlands and brothels are legal and advertising businesses there (however, prostitutes must be at least 18 and the age of consent is 16 in other contexts). The legal situation in Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand is almost as liberal as in the Netherlands (see prostitution in the Netherlands, prostitution in Germany and prostitution in New Zealand).

Related Topics:
Death penalty - Muslim - Unionised - Netherlands - Age of consent - Germany - Switzerland - New Zealand - Prostitution in the Netherlands - Prostitution in Germany - Prostitution in New Zealand

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In all but two U.S. states, the buying and selling of sexual services is illegal and usually classified as a misdemeanor. Regulated brothels are legal in a number of counties of Nevada (see prostitution in Nevada). In Rhode Island, the bare act of sex for money is not illegal, but street solicitation and operating a brothel are.

Related Topics:
U.S. state - Misdemeanor - Counties - Nevada - Prostitution in Nevada - Rhode Island

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Rules vary as to which roles in prostitution are illegal: being a prostitute, being a client, or being a pimp. In Sweden is it legal to sell sex, but not to buy it, according to the Swedish Law (Brottsbalken "Criminal Code" 1962:700, 6 kap, 11 §). In the case of a prostitute under 18 in the Netherlands, being the client or pimp is illegal, but being the prostitute is not, except if the client is also underage (under 16).

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Establishments engaged in sexual slavery or owned by organized crime are the highest priority targets of law enforcement actions against prostitution. Police also frequently intervene when prompted by local resident complaints, often directed against street prostitution. In most countries where prostitution is illegal, at least some forms of it are tolerated. This ambiguous status allows the police to extort money or services, particularly information on criminal activities that prostitutes are often well-placed to obtain, from prostitutes in exchange for "looking the other way".

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Pimping is a sex crime in almost all jurisdictions. Some other countries retain the ill-defined offence of "living off the proceeds of others' prostitution", one of the Prima facie evidences of which is making co-habiting with a prostitute.

Related Topics:
Sex crime - Prima facie

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In 1949, the United Nations adopted a convention stating that prostitution is incompatible with human dignity, requiring all signing parties to punish pimps and brothel owners and operators and to abolish all special treatment or registration of prostitutes. The convention was ratified by 89 countries but Germany, the Netherlands and the United States did not participate.

Related Topics:
1949 - United Nations - Germany - Netherlands - United States

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Some municipalities in the Netherlands would like a "zero tolerance policy" for brothels, i.e. not allow any, on moral grounds, but by law this is not possible. However, regulations, including restrictions in number and location are common. Whether a zero policy on urban planning grounds is allowed is still unclear.

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Advertising prostitution

In countries where prostitution is legal, advertising it may be legal (as in the Netherlands) or illegal (as in Germany).

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In countries where prostitution is illegal, advertising it is usually also illegal.

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Covert advertising for prostitution can take a number of forms:

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• by cards in newsagents' windows
• by cards placed in public telephone enclosures: so-called tart cards
• by euphemistic advertisements in regular magazines and newspapers (for instance, talking of "massages" or "relaxation")
• in specialist contact magazines
• via the World Wide Web

Regulated prostitution

In some jurisdictions, such as Nevada (see prostitution in Nevada), Switzerland and several Australian states, prostitution is legal but heavily regulated.

Related Topics:
Prostitution in Nevada - Switzerland - Australia

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Such approaches are taken with the stance that prostitution is impossible to eliminate and thus these societies have chosen to regulate it in ways that reduce the more undesirable consequences. Goals of such regulations include controlling sexually transmitted disease, reducing sexual slavery, controlling where brothels may operate and dissociating prostitution from crime syndicates.

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The Dutch legalisation of prostitution has similar objectives, as well as improving health and working conditions for the women and weakening the link between prostitution and criminality.

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Daily Planet is a brothel in Melbourne, Australia whose shares have been listed on the Australian Stock Exchange since 2003. There are various regulatory regimes governing prostitution in Australia and a level of increasing professionalism is being seen in the industry with the establishment of business associations like the Queensland Adult Business Association http://qaba.org.authat ascribe to a strict ethical code which entrenches the independence of service providers.

Related Topics:
Daily Planet - Melbourne - Australia - Shares - Australian Stock Exchange - 2003

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Prostitution of children

Regarding the prostitution of children the laws on prostitution as well as those on sex with a child apply. If prostitution in general is legal there is usually a minimum age requirement for legal prostitution that is higher than the general age of consent (see above for some examples). Although some countries do not single out patronage of child prostitution as a separate crime, same act is punishable as sex with an underage.

Related Topics:
Prostitution of children - Age of consent

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Prostitution and illegal immigration

A difficulty in many developed countries is the situation where persons immigrate illegally and work in the sex trade. (This is not quite the same issue as kidnapping and sex slavery). These people face deportation, and so do not have recourse to the law. Hence you get brothels that do not adhere to the usual legal standards intended to safeguard public health and the safety of the workers.

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Sex tourism

Sex tourism is tourism, partially or fully for the purpose of having sex, usually with prostitutes. Sex tourism destinations are typically poor countries, where poverty drives people into prostitution. Examples of these countries are: Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, mainland China, Laos, Cuba and Brazil. Some pedophiles use sex tourism to have access to sex with children that is unavailable in their home country. Most countries with a major sex tourism industry are working on attempting to reduce or eliminate sex tourism.

Related Topics:
Sex tourism - Tourism - Thailand - Vietnam - Mexico - Mainland China - Laos - Cuba - Brazil - Pedophiles

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Several western countries have recently enacted laws punishing citizens who, as sex tourists, engage in sex with minors in other countries. These laws are rarely enforced since the crime usually goes undiscovered.

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Violence against prostitutes

Prostitutes are frequently victims of violent crime by a small number of violent clients and corrupt law-enforcement officers. Prostitutes (particularly those engaging in street prostitution) are also sometimes the targets of serial killers who see themselves as justified in killing prostitutes by the religious and social stigma associated with prostitution. Robert Pickton, a Canadian who lived near Vancouver, made headlines after the bodies of several prostitutes were found buried on his farm. He now stands charged with the murder of 27 Vancouver area women.

Related Topics:
Violent crime - Serial killer - Robert Pickton

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Human (or Sex) trafficking

Due to the illegal nature of trafficking (in this context, the illegal forced transportation of people), the exact extent of women and children forced into prostitution is unknown. A US Government report published in 2003, estimates that 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. http://www.stophumantraffic.org/ Between 80% and 90% of victims trafficked across international borders are female and the majority of those are women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced into prostitution. In addition, internal passport controls in Russia and Ukraine have lead to widespread internal sex trafficking (see tochka).

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The 1996 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography estimates that about one million children in Asia alone are victims of the sex trade. According to the International Labour Organization, the problem is especially alarming in Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal. http://www.ecpatusa.org/index.asp

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Human trafficking is so common now that it is the third most profitable criminal activity in the world after illegal drugs and arms trafficking. Globally, forced labour - which includes sexual exploitation - generates $31bn, half of it in the industrialised world, a tenth in transition countries, the International Labour Organization says in a report on forced labour ("A global alliance against forced labour", ILO, 11 May 2005).

Related Topics:
International Labour Organization - 11 May - 2005

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Trafficking in people has been facilitated by porous borders and advanced communication technologies, it has become increasingly transnational in scope and highly lucrative. Unlike drugs or arms, women and children can be "sold" several times. The trafficking in human beings is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; in people trafficking, the trafficking victim is kidnapped and enslaved. See main article trafficking in human beings

Related Topics:
Trafficking in human beings - Smuggling

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