Running head: CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION 1

Causes of Prostitution

Rosenny Batista de la Rosa

Central Piedmont Community College

ENG112-13

Dr. Page
 Causes of Prostitution

According to the article ​Introduction to What Are the Causes of Prostitution?: At

Issue, A long time ago people viewed prostitution as “sinful” and In the ​Nineteenth-century

people viewed prostitutes as social problem , "Dr. William” did several investigations and it

turned out that the majority of prostitutes were illiterate, poor and homeless. The

“abolitionists” were Christian “reformers” who said that prostitution should be “annihilated”.

The “regulators” tried to legalize prostitution to see if they could “control sexually

transmitted diseases and crime”, but that did not work. Nowadays, people see prostitution as

a way of “slavery”. Many people believe this is due to the increase in commercial sex.

According to Raymond, “is not sex work, it is violence against women”. She also said that

the majority of prostitutes do not have a choice because they live in poverty, and the

traffickers take advantage of this. There are many reasons why people prostitute themselves,

some of these reasons are poverty, thirst for quick wealth, victims of rape and child labor.

Many women would do anything to make money quickly because of their economic position

Women who live in poverty, especially young ones, often see prostitution as a way of

making easy money. Due to lack of money, many of these girls cannot get a good education.

It may be difficult for them to pay for their survival necessities, therefore it is not that easy

for them to find a decent job, so they look to prostitution as a way to survive. For example

according to the Legal Regime of Prostitution in the Africa States there is evidence that lack

of money is a cause of prostitution “the main causes of prostitution in this African state are

generalized poverty, low degree of schooling and education”(Coman), low income, forces the

people to prostitute themselves. “​Female prostitutes, in disproportionate numbers, are known

to be ethnic minorities who are impoverished, uneducated and possess few marketable
skills”( Monroe). The prostitutes that are poor don't have work skills to get another job other

than prostitution and similar jobs.“Most sex workers are born into it. In many areas in India,

women have very little chance to escape the ramifications of being poor, regardless of a caste

system or not”(Monroe). For these women it’s very difficult to get out of prostitution

becauses this is the only way they can get out of the poverty. They often think that, as long as

they work in this business, they can at least ensure that their basic needs are being paid for.

Some women do not even have another choice as there are no other jobs for them because of

their social standing. Because of high earnings and simplicity, there are many women who

actually prefer to work for the sex industry.

Another cause of prostitution is ​thirst for quick wealth. Many women want to have

money without hard work and they find prostitution as the best way to make money fast and

easy. Many women only think about the money they will get and do not think about the

consequences that prostitution can bring, such as sexually transmitted diseases. There are

people who offer jobs to prostitutes, to get out of prostitution but for them it is much easier to

sleep with men for money than to work hard in other jobs. “​A recent study done by business

pundit, shows that the annual revenue generated from the prostitution industry is $108 billion

and that the latter is ranked the third most lucrative business market worldwide, which means

that more people are turning to prostitution to earn a living, since they find it easy and

rewarding”(El Moutassim). The prostitutes can earn much more money with their jobs than

if they worked in a restaurant or as a babysitter, so they stay prostituting themselves because

it is an easier way to make money. Although prostitution is viewed as easy money, it can be

very dangerous. According with BBC News, there is a video about a victim who is telling her

story and talks about how she became a prostitute, how it changed her life, and all that she

had to go through. She began to be a prostitute when she was a minor. She used to walk
through the streets drunk and a man stopped her and asked her if she wanted to make money.

From that moment, she started prostitution because she saw that way she could keep earning

“easy money”, which she would use for drugs and alcohol, and that is how she got stuck

woking in the sex industry. Another evidence “ Billie Piper, is a savvy college grad who hates

working at boring, low-paying office jobs, so she becomes a self-described “whore,”(Jo

Sales). Many women do not want to go to work or make an effort with a job that pays so little

money and that they have to work too much and that is why they prefer to prostitute

themselves. Others, have been working in the sex industry for a long time and they say that

they cannot do something else because prostitution is all they know and they do not want to

risk losing their only source of money.

Another cause of prostitution is victims of rape and child labor. There are women

who have been raped since they were just little girls and are left traumatized. Some of those

women who have been raped, prostitute themselves when they are in adolescence. Also, there

are young girls who are offered certain jobs like modeling but are then forced to work as

prostitutes. There are some who, at a very young age, have been kidnapped and have been

forced to be part of human trafficking. These girls are treated as objects rather than as human

beings. For example this an evidence “Customers treat prostitutes like insensate sex toys.

Certain customers commit some of society's most vile crimes through their abuse of

prostitutes. Pimps dominate prostitutes by means of psychological and physical

assault.”(Erbe). There are pimps who buy prostitutes or sometimes offer certain jobs and fill

it with lies just so the women accept the job offer. The people involved in this are mostly

minors who are looking for jobs, and because they are offered this, they think it is an

opportunity to work; but what they do not know is that they are about to prostitute

themselves and fall. That's how many of them fall into prostitution. “Children were begging
in the streets, engaging in prostitution and other crimes, or doing hard labor”(Degregori).

There are many girls in the streets prostituting themselves, most of these girls are 14 years

old. There are people who kidnap the girls to prostitute them and threaten them if they run

away or if they tell someone, they will end up dead. They also threaten the families of the

victims, telling these girls that they are going to kill their relatives. Another evidence "I was

fourteen and was offered a job in the city. My relative who took me sold me into prostitution.

I was forced and sexually abused till I agreed to prostitution” (Aghatise). Sometimes the

same family they force their children's to prostitute themselves to make money so they can

get out of poverty.

In conclusion, the business of prostitution appears to be growing as the years pass. It

is a business that makes a lot of profit. Many activists say this is a huge problem and want to

stop it. They say it is slavery and violence against women. Women are the most vulnerable

and the most exploited for sex trade. A majority of women who are involved with and victims

of the sex industry are young or have been working there from a young age. Most of them

come from very low-income households and often do not have a lot of education or skills.

Some women willingly do this type of work, but most women are forced to work by sex

traffickers. The majority of prostitutes find it hard to get out of it.

 References

"Introduction to What Are the Causes of Prost​CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION

itution?: At Issue." What are the Causes of Prostitution?, edited by Louise Gerdes,

Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/apps/doc/EJ3010461101/OVIC?u=central

p&sid=OVIC&xid=3c9b1203. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.

Coman,

Florian, and Cristian G. Zaharie. "THE LEGAL REGIME OF PROSTITUTION IN

THE

AFRICAN STATES." Romanian Economic and Business Review, vol. 9, no. 2,

2014, pp. 117-125. ProQuest,

http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1625463278?

accountid=10008.

Monroe, Jacquelyn.

(2008). Women in Street Prostitution: The result of Poverty and the Brunt of

Inequity. Retrieved from

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J134v09n03_04

The Borgen Project. (2015). How Poverty

Encourages Generational Prostitution in India. Retrieved October 2, 2018,

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https://borgenproject.org/prostitution-in-india/

El Mouatassim, Houda.

(2012). Prostitution: The Easiest Way to Earn a Living. Retrieved from

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-a-living/

BBC News. (2018).

Prostitution ‘was easy money for drugs’, says former sex worker.

Retrieved from

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-43227587/prostitution-was-easy-money-for-

drugs-says-former-sex-worker

Jo Sales, Nancy. (2016,

August). Daddies, “ Dates,” and the Girlfriend Experience: Welcome to the New

Prostitution Economy. Retrieved from

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/07/welcome-to-the-new-prostitution-economy

Erbe, Nancy. (1984).

Prostitutes: Victims of Men’s Exploitation and Abuse. Law and Inequality 610,

Vol. 2:609; 611. Retrieved from

https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1295&context=lawineq

Degregori, Thomas R. (2002). Child Labor or

Child Prostitution?. Retrieved from

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/child-labor-or-child-prostitution

Aghatise

Evbuomwan, J. (2006). Poverty and Gender Inequality Promote Prostitution. In L.

Gerdes (Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints. Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Detroit:

Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Poverty, Prostitution, and the Girl Child,

ECONDAD., n.d.) Retrieved from

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