Prostitution: Overview

Introduction

Prostitution is defined as the exchange of sex acts for money or something else of value. The legal status of prostitution is complicated, as it varies widely from country to country. In some nations, including Sudan, prostitution is punishable by death. In other countries, including many European nations, prostitution is legal, and prostitutes are often tax-paying members of a sex workers' union. The clear definition of legal terms can make a big difference in the international legality of prostitution, since certain sexual activities are legally considered prostitution in some countries but not in others. Relatedly, even in countries which have legalized or decriminalized prostitution, those who manage or control prostitutes, or who live on the proceeds of prostitution, are still considered criminals.

The United States remains one of the few Western nations in which prostitution is illegal in most of the country. Many advocate for the decriminalization, regulation, and licensing of prostitution, arguing that legalization would eliminate the criminal element of the trade, leading to safer working conditions and better health for both prostitutes and their clients. In this view, prostitution is a "victimless crime," and should be treated as a private and legal arrangement between consenting adults. Even under such scenarios, however, government efforts would continue to discourage street prostitution, open solicitation, and advertisement, and would still prohibit others from managing or profiting from prostitution. This is seen, even by some prostitutes, as problematic, since some level of management and support is perceived as necessary to ensure the physical protection of prostitutes. Many states debated legislation in the early 2020s proposing both partial and full approaches to decriminalization. In 2023, Maine became the first state in the country to partially decriminalize prostitution, passing a law that removed penalties for sex workers.

Critics of decriminalization argue that the primary victims of prostitution are the prostitutes themselves, citing various risks such as medical complications from venereal disease and unwanted pregnancies, the imbalance of power between female prostitute and male procurer, the inherent dangers associated with the prostitute's vulnerable and anonymous encounters with unknown individuals, the substance abuse that often accompanies the work, and common psychological effects such as guilt, shame, loss of self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

Understanding the Discussion

Brothel: A house of prostitution; a building where prostitutes are available.

Commercial sex worker: One who performs sexual acts in exchange for money; also called a prostitute. In countries where prostitution is legal, such workers are often regulated, licensed, and subject to required medical examination.

Pimp: A person who receives income from the earnings of a prostitute, generally by soliciting customers. Pimping is often a legal term that can apply equally to males or females who procure customers or solicit business for prostitutes. Escort agency owners are frequently prosecuted for "pimping" even though street prostitution was not involved.

Red-light district: A neighborhood known for the presence of prostitutes, prostitution, and other businesses related to the sex industry, whether legally permitted or not.

Victimless crime: Any illegal act to which all involved parties have consented; a phrase often used in defense of prostitution.

History

Evidence of prostitution in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations dates as far back as 2400 BCE. Historically, the exchange of sex for money or goods has been viewed either as a legal and honorable trade, or with a social stigma attached. Some early forms of prostitution were even considered sacred, and were used as a form of worship in temples. Prostitution was practiced legally in ancient Chinese, Indian, Greek, and Roman societies, and was a trade plied by both women and men.

In Europe during the Middle Ages, despite the opinion of the Roman Catholic Church that all sex outside of marriage was sinful, prostitution continued to flourish. Laws regulating or criminalizing prostitution were passed until the 1490s, when an outbreak of syphilis, known as "the great pox," swept across Europe. The fear of disease added to the growing religious pressure, causing a general rejection of prostitution. The punishments meted out to those suspected of prostitution became more severe, and ranged from the mild shaving of prostitutes' heads to the removal of the ears and nose (intended to diminish attractiveness), branding, scourging, and imprisonment. Despite these risks, prostitution continued.

During the Renaissance of the sixteenth century, women in Italy known as "elite courtesans" practiced a form of high-society prostitution. These women acted not only as sexual objects, but also as companions, displaying wit and charm and the ability to carry on conversations on current events with their aristocratic male clientele.

England and France criminalized prostitution and the operation of brothels during the mid-sixteenth century. Pope Sixtus V ordered the death penalty as punishment for criminal cases of prostitution in 1586. Although prostitution continued to exist in the shadows, the social climate in Europe was one of severe intolerance for those who practiced it, with that climate persisting for several centuries.

Following the French Revolution of 1789, revolutionaries questioned the legal status of prostitution in France and the validity of many longstanding royal decrees. The Bureau des Moeurs ("Bureau of Manners") was created in Paris in 1802 to regulate prostitution (it ceased operation in 1903). This model of regulated prostitution was tried again when Napoleon introduced it in the Netherlands in 1810. The regulation ended when the French withdrew from the area in 1813, but was reinstituted in an attempt to prevent the spread of disease when the Local Government Act of 1853 was passed. Nations throughout Europe attempted various types of regulation in the hope of stopping the spread of disease, but none of the laws remained in place for very long, as many involved compulsory medical examinations, which were met with public resistance.

In the United States, regulation of prostitution was attempted in a red-light district known as Storyville in New Orleans from 1897 to 1917. In 1910, the Mann Act, also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act, was passed, making "prostitution or debauchery, for any immoral purpose" a federal crime. Though restricted in scope by subsequent legislation and court decisions, the Mann Act is still on the books, and was instrumental in the prosecution of the escort agency that ensnared and ultimately caused the resignation of Eliot Spitzer, then governor of New York, in 2008. In the ensuing decades, the world continued to view prostitution negatively, with attitudes ranging from disapproval and social stigma to the internment of prostitutes in Nazi concentration camps in 1939.

After World War II, a resurgence in tolerance and regulation of prostitution occurred in many parts of the world. In 1946, France kept the act of prostitution itself legal, though solicitation and running a brothel was criminalized. England legalized prostitution in 1959, and in 1971 the state of Nevada regulated prostitution, allowing rural counties to license brothels. Prostitution has been legal in Canada since well before World War II and remains so, though prohibitions remain against street prostitution and pimping. Notwithstanding these laws, some provinces, notably British Columbia, have elected to regulate and license escorts and escort agencies.

In 1973, COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), the first group formed to protect the rights of prostitutes in the United States, was organized in San Francisco, California. Other smaller groups soon followed suit in cities around the nation. In 1985, the first international meeting of prostitutes' rights groups convened in Amsterdam as the International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights. These groups advocate for the decriminalization, licensing, and regulation of prostitution, which they feel will protect the workers involved and create safer conditions for those who earn their livelihood through prostitution.

With the rise of AIDS in the late 1980s, many states increased the penalties for prostitution in cases where the sex worker is knowingly HIV-positive, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease. These felony prostitution laws require mandatory HIV testing for anyone arrested for prostitution. In the case of a positive test result, the suspect is informed that a future arrest for prostitution will be treated as a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Penalties for felony prostitution vary, and include maximum prison sentences of ten to fifteen years.

Meanwhile, some states passed laws in the early twenty-first century further regulating prostitution. In 2009, for example, Rhode Island governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill outlawing the selling of sexual services. Between 1980 and 2009, there was no law in Rhode Island specifically defining and outlawing prostitution. While street solicitation and other associated acts remained illegal, indoor prostitution was effectively decriminalized in the state. Massage parlors that also offered behind-closed-doors sexual services were prevalent in Rhode Island prior to enacting the 2009 law.

Prostitution Today

Because prostitution is illegal in most of the United States, prostitution arrest records are the most reliable source of statistical data. According to the Department of Justice, more than 12,600 women and 7,400 men were arrested on charges of prostitution and commercialized vice in the United States in 2019.

Perhaps the most significant international development in prostitution in the twenty-first century was the growth of global human trafficking. After the fall of Communism, a combination of organized crime and poor economic conditions in areas such as Eastern Europe led to the rise of human trafficking in the form of a global sex trade. Lured away from home and into unfamiliar surroundings with promises of legitimate jobs abroad and eager to earn money to support their families, young girls and women have been unwittingly sold into sexual slavery in countries around the world. Made vulnerable by the language barrier and often unclear about their location, the victims of such trafficking often find themselves in a powerless situation. This global sex trade is considered by many to be among the most crucial human rights issues of the twenty-first century. It is difficult in many places and situations to distinguish between persons who have knowingly and intelligently consented to engage in the sex trade and those who have been coerced, physically or economically through displacement from their homes and cultures.

In August 2015, delegates from Amnesty International, a human rights group, controversially voted at an International Council Meeting to support a policy in favor of fully decriminalizing all aspects of prostitution worldwide. The delegation argued that, based upon two years of research conducted with such agencies as the World Health Organization and interviews with sex workers, decriminalization served as the best way to reduce risks and stigmas for prostitutes; the policy would also ask countries and states to guarantee that prostitutes have complete protection from exploitation and trafficking. The decision sparked a debate among human activists, with critics angered by the idea of impunity for buyers and pimps.

The United States, on the other hand, passed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act in 2018, which attempted to curb prostitution and human trafficking by imposing severe penalties against websites and online platforms that promoted or facilitated prostitution. Despite its intentions, critics of the act argued that instead of protecting victims of sex trafficking, it made it harder for those who chose to participate in sex work to protect themselves. In 2021, Texas became the first state to make paying for sex a felony.

Meanwhile, calls for the decriminalization of prostitution continued, both in the US and in other parts of the world. In 2023, Maine became the first US state to pass a law to partially decriminalize prostitution by removing penalties against people who sell sex. The bill left in place existing laws that regulated the purchase of sex—an approach known as the equality model or Nordic model, after Sweden, which was the first country to pass such a law. Many women's rights advocates praised the bill as a way to protect people who sell sex, including victims of human trafficking, while still working to decrease the demand for paid sex. Still, some opponents continued to push for full decriminalization of prostitution, which means that all legal ramifications for buying or selling sex would be removed. Thus, in addition to sex workers no longer being prosecuted, neither would pimps, brothel owners, or buyers of sex. Critics of full decriminalization cite research that has shown such an approach can lead to an increase in human trafficking. Legislation for either partial or full decriminalization was debated in several states, including New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, in the early 2020s.

These essays and any opinions, information or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

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