PROSTITUTION

By
Sufyen Chaudhary
AU180184
TYBA

Assignment Submitted in the Course ‘Current Ethical Issues’ as a partial requirement for
completion of the course

Department of Sociology

Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science-Autonomous

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Introduction

Prostitution, flesh trade, whoredom, the world’s oldest profession and a host of such
references are actually qualitative indicators to the zones of red light areas. Prostitution can
be dealing with both the genders; there are red light areas where there are both men and
women selling their bodies for money. Prostitution is functional for several parties in society.
It provides prostitutes a source of income, and it provides a sexual alternative for men who
lack a sexual partner or are dissatisfied with their current sexual partner. Prostitution also
helps keep the divorce rate lower than it would be if prostitution did not exist. We might have
never realised it as this topic might be against our morality.

Female prostitution is perhaps the oldest profession all over the world. Alas, it is perhaps the
most hated profession. Hated in the sense that people who visit them actually enjoy it, but in
society, they pretend otherwise.

As a concept, prostitution has been defined by social scientist in different ways depending on
the extent of its prevalence. The most widely accepted definition; however, is the one given
in the encyclopaedia of social science which defines prostitution “as the practice in which a
female offers her body for promiscuous sexual intercourse for hire etc. However, a new
definition has been coined for the word ‘Prostitution’ in the Government of India’s
“Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act-1987, which now means “Sexual exploitation or abuse of
persons for commercial purposes.” Prostitution is one of the oldest professions of the world
practiced since the birth of the organized society. Prostitution is practiced in almost all the
countries and every type of society.

In India, the Vedas, the earliest of the known Indian literature, abound in references to
prostitution as an organized and established institution. In Indian mythology there are many
references of high class prostitution in the form of celestial demigods acting as prostitutes.
They are referred to as Menaka, Rambha, Urvashi, and Thilothamma. They are described as
perfect embodiments and unsurpassed beauty and feminine charms. They are highly
accomplished in music and dance. They entertained divinities and their guests in the court of
Lord Indira, the Lord of Hindu Gods. They were also sent to test the real depth of ‘tapasya’
(penance) and devotion of great saints.

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Perceptions of prostitution are based on culturally determined values that differ between
societies. In some societies, prostitutes have been viewed as members of a recognized
profession; in others they have been shunned, reviled, and punished with stoning,
imprisonment, and death. Few societies have exercised the same severity toward clients;
indeed, in many societies, clients suffer few if any legal repercussions. In some cultures,
prostitution has been required of young girls as a rite of puberty or as a means of acquiring
a dowry, and some religions have required prostitution of a certain class of priestesses. 

Generally prostitutes can be classified on the basis of their ‘modus operandi’ which is as
follows:

 Brothel Prostitutes: Their operations are carried out in the brothel which is owned by
an ex prostitutes. The prostitutes work for a commission based on her sexual service.
 Call Girl Prostitutes: They generally operate independently from her place. She may
be available directly or solicit customers through middlemen.
 Street Prostitutes: This type solicits customers on the streets and takes the customer to
a place of assignation.
 Other Types: Clandestine forms of prostitution are also found in bare, massage
parlours, amusement centres, dance clubs etc.

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Opinion

Prostitution exists because it serves several important functions for society generally and for
certain people in society. Prostitution too has a function and they too are a part of the society
that is unnoticed. Firstly let’s get it clear being a prostitute or a part of prostitution or red light
area is not ethically wrong. It is not forced, those instances are different where women and
girls are forced but there are women who do as a way of their income. Yes women do make
money with this, for example: recently a woman who was a racer by profession left the racing
career and became a prostitute to support her family and she was very happy with it because
she earned more than earlier. Many women find it easy to do and see it as a way of income in
order to support their families. How many times have we said to those women who beg with
kids, instead of begging go and find some job. So yes this might be the job they venture into,
and it’s not wrong, it’s just their conditions that dragged them into this spot of life. So the
first function is Prostitution help to lower unemployment, it provides a source of income for
many women who otherwise might be jobless and begging on streets and just adding to the
poverty of the country. Prostitution provides financial security to sex workers. Majority of the
sex workers being women will provide themselves financial independence and could
eventually lead them to other better conditioned jobs, if they want. It will increase the overall
productivity of the society. Secondly prostitution even lowers the divorce rate. Many married
men are unhappy with their sex life with their wives. If they do not think this situation can
improve, some men start an affair with another woman and may fall in love with that woman,
threatening these men’s marriages. Other men turn to a prostitute. Because prostitution is
generally impersonal, these men do not fall in love with their prostitutes, and their marriages
are not threatened. Without prostitution, then, more men would have affairs, and more
divorces would result. Many prostitutes, for example, believe they are performing an
important service for the men who pay them. Indoor prostitutes are perhaps especially likely
to feel they are helping their customers by providing them not only sex but also
companionship. A woman who owned a massage parlour named “The Stress Buster” echoed
this view. Her business employed fourteen women who masturbated their customers and
offered a senior citizen discount. The owner reasoned that her employees were performing an
important service: “We have many senior citizens and handicapped people. We have some
men who are impotent and others who are divorced or in bad marriages. This is a safe, AIDS-
free environment that helps marriages. Husbands come in here and get a stress release and

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than they are able to go home and take on more. These are men who aren’t in bars, streets or
some other places picking up strange women and harming women against their will”. Thirdly
red light areas also help a little to control rapes. There is a direct correlation around the world
between the number of rapes and conservative prostitution laws. Less sexually frustrated
people will mean less sex crimes in the country.

Mid nineteenth century prostitution was a business dominated by women and allowed them
much individual freedom. Though some women were forced into it, many chose it. In need of
money for food and family, it has often been the only resource that a woman has at her
disposal. Women working in this field have reported both patterns of exploitation and
empowerment.” With this empowerment and independence, prostitution has opened doors for
women to enter other business fields. Generally, “a prostitute had better working conditions,
more free time, better clothing, food, health, and living quarters than other hard working
labourers. It was a very alluring field for women who had nothing to lose. Even today
prostitutes make about four times the hourly wage they would make employed elsewhere.
Money is often directly related to power, and the heightened monetary status gained from
prostituting gave women a sense of empowerment in a time when society was dominated by
men. Madame Cooper is an excellent example of a woman choosing to enter prostitution to
provide for herself and her children, becoming empowered, and having a successful business
venture.

Some people opine that prostitution shall be made legal in India and accept them as a part of
society because the problem of prostitution is inevitable. The benefit of legalizing prostitution
in India will be that at least we will have a track record of Sex workers as for example when
dance bar in Bombay were closed most of the bar dancers migrated to Gujarat and Karnataka
and other neighbouring state and started their business undercover. Legalizing prostitution
will see these women, who live life on the edge everywhere, gaining access to medical
facilities, which can control the spread of AIDS. There is a very strong need to treat the sex
industry as any other industry and empower it with legal safeguards. The practical
implications of the profession being legal would bring nothing but benefits for sex workers
and society as a whole. Keeping prostitution illegal also contributes to crime because many
criminals view prostitutes and their customers as attractive targets for robbery, fraud, rape, or
other criminal acts. The criminals realize that such people are unlikely to report the crimes to
police, because the victims would have to admit they were involved in the illegal activity of

5
prostitution when the attacks took place, now if it is legal then they will easily go and report
this to police.

Benefits of legalizing prostitution are:

 Legalization of prostitution and the sex industry will stop sex trafficking.
 Legalization of prostitution will control the sex industry.
 Legalization of prostitution will decrease clandestine, hidden, illegal and street
prostitution.
 Legalization of prostitution will protect the women in prostitution as they will have
rights. Women in systems of Prostitution want the sex industry legalized as they are
the one who suffers the most as they don’t have any rights.
 Legalization of prostitution will promote women's health as they can have easy
access to medical facilities which they don’t have when it is illegal.
 Recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, thus enabling women in India to
obtain working permits as "sex workers".

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Conclusion

It can be concluded that prostitution might be having negative effect though we cannot deny
the fact that they too are a part of the society and also play a function. Without them maybe
our society would have been in a complete bizarre situation. There might have been more and
more breakup of marriages, every now and then rapes (though they still take place) but it
might have been a really bad situation. I would conclude making a point that prostitution and
red light areas would protect children who are forced to work in such areas. Also proven
benefits of legalizing prostitution include mental and physical healthcare (including STI
prevention care), safer and more accessible ways of reporting violence and abuse as well as
improved infrastructure and working conditions. There will also be changes in the number of
people at risk of forced prostitution and human trafficking as it would help the government to
clamp down human trafficking. The Netherlands is just one example of a successful
regulatory system in which prostitution is legalized and health and safety standards are
applied. This type of public sex policy allows the government to enforce codes and
regulations that are beneficial to both the worker and the client. Legalization does not have to
mean public approval of prostitution practices, but it does ensure sex workers a decent living
and a safer work environment. The overall benefits of legalizing prostitution are considerable
and could prove an asset in the fight to end poverty to some extent as it will give
employment.

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