social problem

Prostitution is the selling of sexual services and is another debatable behavior. Several people, mostly with religious views and conservative, believe prostitution is wrong and evil as it involves sex for money, they perceive prostitution as a symbol of moral decay in the society.

Several feminists believe that prostitution is demeaning to women and provides backgrounds in which sex workers are beaten, raped, and robbed. Both the female activists and conservatives may disagree on some issues, but they both attest strongly to the negative impact of prostitution in society (Ringdal, 2004). Many people also believe that prostitution catalyzes HIV/aids spread and other sexually transmitted diseases. All this category of people reasons that sex work should remain unlawful with stiffer enforcement measures enshrined in law.

Always called the oldest trade in the world, prostitution has been prevalent since the olden days. In Mesopotamia, priests procured the services of prostitutes. In ancient Greece, evidence shows that prostitution was a legal trade, that serviced both common men and political class alike (Ringdal, 2004).  Sex trade was in ancient Rome too, and in the Old Testament, it was, ‘accepted as more or less expected that many men would turn to commercial sex work.’(Bullough &Bullough,1977, pp.137-138) Through the 18th century-19th century, prostitution was seen as evil, as legal houses of prostitution operated in parts of Europe and played a significant role in tax revenue collection. With the risk of venereal diseases, some towns closed their brothels, but other cities resorted to frequent medical check-up of their sex workers.

Money is the primary motivation for not only women but also men who become prostitutes, as a majority of them come from low-income backgrounds. For call girls who are indoor commercial sex workers, it is a well-paying job. Streetwalkers barely get rich from prostitution and suffer many problems like arrest, rape, and assault from violent clients (Weitzer, 2012). But prostitution remains their primary source of income as they are unlikely to get lawful professions because they have little sought-after skills.

B1                   Functionalist theory; sex trade exists because it serves many vital functions for society as a whole and a given group of people in the community. Prostitution provides a source of living for many men and women who may be jobless otherwise. It also offers sexual substitute to men and women who are not sexually satisfied. Kingsley Davis, a sociologist scholar, asserts that prostitution reduces the divorce rate. He argues that many married people, mostly men, are unhappy with their sex life with their partners (Weitzer, 2012). Lack of sex satisfaction results in extramarital affairs in quest for improved sex life, which turns to be a threat to their marriage in the long run as they end up falling in love. At the same time, others go for prostitutes because it usually impersonal, and this group of people rarely fall in love with the sex workers hence not threatening their marriages. With zero prostitution, more people would engage in illicit love affairs that would, in turn, result in numerous divorces.

B2                   Conflict theory; prostitution reflects societal, economic inequalities. Many poor people feel compelled to commercial sex work because of their lack of money. Rich people have more than one source of income, and the idea of becoming prostitutes is an idea they never have to ponder. History states that in the 19th century. Several women lost their boyfriends and husbands in the war, and they were left penniless. Lacking primary education and living in a community that, at times, gives less job position to women, many of these widowed women turn to commercial sex work to feed their families (Weitzer, 2012). As American cities expand rapidly, thousands of immigrant women and other less fortunate women turn to prostitution as a source of income.

B3       Symbolic interaction; prostitutes have since learned their customer behavior. This understanding has helped prostitutes and their clients justify their behavior. Many sex workers believe that they are playing an essential role in servicing men who pay them in return. Indoor prostitutes perhaps feel they are helping their clientele base by giving them not companionship but also sex (Weitzer, 2012).

Prostitution has been since ancient times, and it has continued across the United States long since its illegalization in 1920. The government of the day should try and address the socio-economic challenges in the societies and have a proper plan to deal with emerging issues such as coronavirus that results in joblessness that will ultimately lead to prostitution.

References

Bullough, V.L., (1977). Sin, sickness, and sanity: a history of sexual sanity. New York

Ringdal. J. (2004). Love for sale: A world history of prostitution. New York

Weitzer, R (2012). Prostitutions facts and fictions. New York