Why Women Get Involved in Prostitution Essay Example

bodies as sex objects, but it could be the only answer to their problems.Much of prostitution took place in the early centuries, prostitution is not a serious topics discussed in this decade because areas of poverty have decreased a great amount.

Poverty is the main cause of why women get involved in prostitution. “Other studies have also tried to prove theories by gathering evidence on economic and social factors. ” (fsweb. berry. edu) Many other countries have a higher rate of prostitution due to poverty levels, one of the major reasons why women give there bodies to sexual acts for money is because they feel as though they have no other way out.

Women who come from low income and poverty risen neighborhoods, want a fast easy way to make money or it could be the only way they have in order to obtain an income. Prostitution can lead to rape, becoming a prostitute not only shows that you do not care about your body, but it is also putting yourself at a high risk. “As adults in prostitution, 82% had been physically assaulted; 83% had been threatened with a weapon; 68% had been raped while working as prostitutes; and 84% reported current or past homelessness. ”(Farley) These percentages might be even higher due to people who do not report these incidents due to being ashamed.These women involve themselves in it, many come from abusive homes, and they see it as a way of punishing themselves.

Besides adult prostitution there is teenage prostitution, many teenagers who are involved in these acts are runaways and “conversely most teens who leave home for good end up on the streets and

turn to prostitution to survive”(Flowers, 89) “Many runaways who turn to prostitution often left home due to a troubled existence such as school problems, learning difficulties, fighting, social isolation, parental substance abuse and related problems.Many have been witnessed or victims to physical and emotional abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. ” (Flowers, 89) Some studies try and prove some prostitutes have a background of sexual child abuse. Child abuse leads children to running away, as reported when children runaway or leave home, they eventually involve themselves into prostitution and selling themselves as sex objects. Others, who run away from home, can be kidnapped and are forced into prostitution. They are forced against their will to perform sexual acts.

Many young teens eventually end up getting pregnant and most of them usually keep the baby.Once they have the child they need to find a way to support them. This is where it leads into adult prostitution and drug dealing in order to support their new family. Once someone is involved in drugs and prostitution it is very hard for them to get out. They are used to the lifestyle and find it as a type of addiction. When a person starts prostitution at a young age, they grow into it.

They do not learn how to live a decent and healthy lifestyle. Many teens and adult women who get involved into prostitution come from poor, abusive families and have very little education. Flowers 89-91) A study done by Joanna Phoenix in 2000 discusses “women’s sustained involvement in prostitution. In the late twentieth century it is taken for granted that women’s involvement in prostitution can be explained in terms of

poverty and/or vulnerability to predatory men. However, closer examination of the stories that prostitute-women recount reveals that their narratives are marked by a paradox that inheres in the contradictory effects of involvement in prostitution and the antithetical representations of prostitution offered by the women. (Phoenix 37) In the study Phoenix does not support or go against either side.

Her studies primarily argue that women freely enter into prostitution because of economic rewards, she also argues that their continued involvement makes sense with in their social and material conditions in which they live. (Phoenix 38) Secondly she argues that engagement in prostitution comes by at within a shifting set of meanings for men money and violence (Phoenix 38). Joanna Phoenix study collected information dealing with 21 prostituted women who live and work in the mid city.They were 18 to 44 years of age, being involved in prostitution from 9 months to 26 years (Phoenix 38). Women from her study had early family lived marked by abuse, neglect, running away, and had little or no education, these women were non drug dependant and usually worked from the streets (phoenix 38). Within the research some women discusses their reasoning’s for being involved in prostitution.

“Many women talked about living in a social context where as working class women, their survival depended on particular men (such as their husband or boyfriend). “They saw prostitution as a means to provide for them not having to depend on anyone but themselves. ” (Phoenix 39) Independence was a key theme continuously mentioned within the study. “Engagement in prostitution gave these women a way obtain their own independence. ” (Phoenix 39) Within the study many

women claimed it costed more money to go to work , than actually they would make at work. “Many women also claimed that since their earnings were undeclared, “unlike other jobs you don’t get time off or pension or anything like that,” prostitution does not provide a foundation for anything secure financial future.

( Phoenix 40). Another way women got caught into staying involved with prostitution is because when they would be caught by the police they would be charged with solicit ting, the would go to court, be charged have to pay a fine. In order to avoid going to jail they would continue to prostitute in order to get money for the fines and court fees (Phoenix 40). Phoenix covers many different aspects in her study dealing with prostitution, later in depth of the study she talks about women prostituting as survival and then prostitution as victimization. (Phoenix 41). Many women claimed involvement in prostitution alleviated their poverty.

If these problems occurred then why would women continue to involve themselves in this lifestyle? If they were unhappy with what they were doing wouldn’t they find an alternative to move on and make things better? Women can see no alternative to their current lifestyle; they had to live within the contradiction and seemed to have to make more sense within prostitution” (phoenix 41) In the conclusion of this case study all the women talked about themselves as individuals who were unable to control the events of their lives and who were controlled by others that hurt, mistreated or injured them. “Many of the women discussed how past victimizations had ‘turned’ them into prostitutes because as a

result of such victimizations all they knew was how to be used and abused. (Phoenix 44) “The women lead lives so utterly fractured and torn apart by aggregate effects of poverty, violence and exploitation. ” “It can not be denied that women suffered tremendous burden of poverty, social isolation, destitution, homelessness, exploitation in violence and suffering impacted upon and fashioned their lives in prostitution”(Phoenix 53) “ Women negotiated poverty and violence they experienced, they acted with intent and made their own choices with prostitution.

” (Phoenix 54). The past case study talked about women getting involved with prostitution dealing with poverty and own choices.Another book written by Andrew August also discusses women involving themselves into prostitution as a way of a living; they needed some source of income in low poverty way of life. (August 23). Many studies have been done only show the reasons of women involving themselves into prostitution dealing with poverty levels. Many prostitutes begin prostituting at a young age due to being forced into it.

“The twenty-first century brings with it some of the dark realities of the last century with respect to the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ”Worldwide, untold numbers of children are being systematically deprived of their human rights, dignity, and childhood through child prostitution, child pornography, and other sexploitation. ” “Many of these children are routinely subjected to rape, beatings, displacement, drug addiction, psychological abuse, and other trauma, including exposure to the AIDS virus and a life with no future. ” This study examines the current state of international trafficking of children and other child sexual exploitation.

“Child sex tourism plays a major role in the child sex trade as

prostituted youths are routinely lured or abducted into sexual slavery and sex-for-profit. ” “Other prostitution-involved girls and boys are at the whim of pimps, pornographers, and other sexual exploiters. ” “The global exploitation of children continues to plague society, in spite of international efforts to combat the proliferation of the child sex trade industry. ” (Flowers 147) In conclusion throughout many case studies the findings have come out to be the same.Many prostitutes have come from homes with the background of sexual abuse and neglect.

Also their poverty levels have been extremely low that these women have engaged themselves into such activities as of prostitution to make money and become “independent”. Other women who are involved are proven in studies to be forced into it when they are younger and grew up doing it. Many teens and adults who get involved into prostitution come from poor, abusive families and have very little education.