Prostitution is broadly defined as the performance of sexual acts for financial remuneration. It is estimated that 40–42 million people engage in prostitution worldwide, though exact numbers are difficult to ascertain because prostitution is largely illegal, involves criminal networks, and is associated with human trafficking. Discourse regarding prostitution has predominantly focused on street prostitution, despite it being the least prevalent form of sex work. Other forms include brothel work, escorting, call boy/girl rolls, massage parlor workers, and gender performers. This does not include managers and pimps (indirect participants in the sex industry) nor customers who pay for sexual services. Although primarily focused on the academic discourse regarding prostitution, this article also discusses risk factors, differences among the various types of prostitution, and future research directions.
Discourse
Prostitution is situated within a moral, sociopolitical milieu, which affects the legal standpoint of, and interpersonal relationships between, sex workers, law enforcement, and the public. Public opinion of prostitution sits within a broader discourse of gender norms, sexuality, power dynamics, finances, and acceptable sexual behavior. Evolutionary research has shown that this discourse is affected by the value placed on female virginity, which may result from paternity uncertainty. This has resulted in a historical stigmatization of female sexuality and continued stigmatization of sex work. There is also a view that women should not want sex or money unless motivated by nurturing intentions. This may explain why prostitution, involving both, is viewed negatively by the public, irrespective of the laws of the region, particularly when it is indiscreet, as in street prostitution. It may also explain why research often discusses sex work as devaluing women by selling something integral to the self, despite the same language not being used for other work.
Like other gender-sensitive areas (e.g., domestic abuse), research on this subject has been dominated by feminist arguments, focusing on patriarchal ideals, conceptualizing prostitution as framed within this unequal gender dynamic, whereby women are dominated, victimized, and controlled by men. Radical feminist arguments regarding prostitution have been criticized because they are not evidence based and are often inconsistent with research. They tend to focus on, and possibly exaggerate the occurrence of, human sex trafficking and other negative aspects of sex work. This may explain why street work receives greater attention, as exploitation and risk are highest in this group.
Researchers often recruit former sex workers who consider themselves victims to conduct interviews on their behalf, which can result in leading questions. This practice can encourage bias and fails to take into account multiple types of prostitution, including male, homosexual, or transgender sex workers. Problems within feminist-based explanations of prostitution are evident when, for example, male prostitution is explained using a standardized framework, claiming that male prostitutes exploit usually very wealthy, older female clients. That is not to say exploitation does not occur, only that research should be evidence based, and theories of prostitution must be inclusive of all types of sex work and sex workers. In order to understand the interpersonal dynamics of prostitution, neglected groups need to be included, as do managers and customers.
Beyond women as sellers; men as buyers, definitions of prostitution are comparatively limited. This is reflected in a limited body of research on male prostitution, which has historically (before 2005) received considerably less attention. Male sex work and sexual exchange (i.e., providing sex for resources, such as food or drugs) include sexual escorting practices as well as gay-for-pay prostitution or pornographic acting. Prostitution spans a range of sexualities and encompasses sexual fluidity, yet these have seldom been studied. Transgendered prostitution, for example, has received very little empirical attention, although some studies have emerged since around 2014. This has partly been blamed on the widespread criminalization of prostitution, tacitly promoting heteronormality through even greater fear of reprisal and suppression, driving LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer) prostitution further underground.
It has been argued, including by gender performers, that sex work is almost exclusively seen as taking place within heteronormative economic relationships. This includes a stereotypical power dynamic whereby men possess control. However, it has also been argued that prostitution flips this dynamic because male sexual desire is used to gain money, which is a form of power within capitalist cultures. Gender performers actively reject these gender norms and try to move beyond them in their acts. Sex as a commodity is still present in their performances and is a large part of public dialogue regarding sex work. However, gender performers use props and swap out gender assignment to show bidirectional and multiform sexual and sociosexual power. Future research is needed to explore public discourse in this area because it is integral to the context and impact of sex work.
Risk Factors
While radical feminism sees sex work as part of the patriarchal exploitation of women, the public largely views sex workers as criminals, which impacts the political and legal landscape within which prostitution takes place. It exacerbates the known risk of egregiously violent robbery, assault, rape, and murder. There is also a comorbidity of substance and alcohol abuse, criminal activity, poverty, homelessness, and sexually transmitted infections, particularly among young female street workers and transgender sex workers. Moreover, the decision to engage in prostitution typically involves less freedom for street workers and a greater risk of force or fraud.
One of the reasons that street prostitution has heightened risk is the locales and circumstances in which it takes place. For example, downtown Vancouver’s East Side has a high incidence of prostitution and the lowest average income in Canada as well as one of the highest rates of hepatitis and HIV infection in the Western world. Street workers also engage in riskier behaviors: frequenting high-crime areas alone, working at night, and getting into cars with strangers. Street and transgender workers, particularly those with prework vulnerabilities such as dependence issues, are known to engage in riskier behaviors and accept lower remuneration. Moreover, public advocacy that shuts down brothels or causes the police to drive prostitutes out of residential areas prompts dispersal into ghettoized areas of cities where poverty, homelessness, addiction, and mental illness are highest.
Risk is particularly dependent on the type of sex work and sex worker, with an ascending level of risk from massage escorts, massage parlor workers, brothel workers, and street workers. In part, this is because protective factors are present for indoor sex workers, such as panic buttons and surveillance equipment in Nevada’s legal brothels. The type of sex work performed is related to access to protection, freedom to refuse clients or engage in certain sexual practices, and dependence on third parties. Male prostitutes are generally at lower risk of assault, harassment, and arrest and experience greater mobility across the different types of sex work, than female, homosexual, and transgender workers. Risk is also dependent on race, age, appearance, and income, with the most vulnerable group being transgender workers.
Tensions between sex workers, police, and the public are seen by some as justification for aggression against prostitutes. This relationship is supported by increasing public advocacy against prostitution being followed by increased violence and homicide rates. It has also been argued that police are less diligent in their investigations, applying less crime linkage, when the victim is a prostitute. The example of the epidemic of Aboriginal sex workers that went missing in the 1990s in Vancouver has been cited as evidence, as have the very low rates of prosecution and conviction in cases involving sex workers. The risk of arrest also results in underreporting of crimes by sex workers. There is some evidence that having a pimp can be beneficial in protecting against these risk factors because pimps often enforce no-drug policies and promote safety behaviors, such as working in pairs. However, reports from prostitutes also suggest that pimps victimize workers and do not increase feelings of overall safety.
Risk factors have led feminist advocacy groups to campaign for prostitution’s decriminalization. There are already some countries and regions where prostitution is legal. For example, it is legal in the Netherlands; some forms are decriminalized in some Australian states; Nevada, in the United States, has legal brothels; and some European countries have decriminalized third-party involvement in prostitution. Some studies have found lower rates of prostitution where it is illegal, but this relationship is not causal, is not strong, if present, and is affected by the purpose of the research, with most studies focusing on harm reduction or those who want to get out of prostitution. Moreover, gaining access to populations is difficult where prostitution is illegal, which may result in underestimates in those regions, hampering efforts to ascertain the effect of decriminalization.
Furthermore, there is mixed evidence that decriminalization results in decreased risk factors. Some studies suggest safety is improved, particularly where decriminalization moves prostitution off the streets; however, this is dependent on the type of prostitution and licensing policies involved. For example, where legalization is heavily regulated via licensing brothels, as in Victoria, Australia, street prostitution may increase, due to licensing being dependent on no drug use and no previous arrest policies, which may hamper safety, driving the most vulnerable sex workers onto the street. This is also seen by the public as condoning prostitution. There is also evidence that legalization improves working conditions and worker benefits for sex workers. However, decriminalization does not necessarily decrease crime or sex work arrests, with the number of street arrests remaining consistent in areas where licensed brothels have been introduced (e.g., Victoria and Queensland, Australia). The effect of decriminalization seems largely dependent on the preexisting relationship between the police and sex workers. Research also needs to look at customers, who outnumber prostitutes, and their varied motivations and experiences.
Individual Differences
As noted, the way contemporary prostitution is conceptualized can be limited. Sex work for money and sexual exchange are not wholly distinct. One example, related to the rise of the Internet, is webcam modeling, or camming. Camming, which attracts models from across the world, may be sexual or nonsexual, but the most successful cam artists typically fall into the former category. Camming of this nature typically involves individual women or men performing sexual acts, often chosen by their remotely based audience. Performers can receive money from viewers; often, they are gifted indulgent material goods, selected from a wish list they have curated. Sometimes, these gifts are sexually themed (e.g., sex toys, underwear); frequently they are not (e.g., games consoles). Sexual camming of this kind is thus used by some models as a proxy that negates complex legal issues surrounding the transactional provision of sexual acts in many territories. Big monetary donors to top cam models (who can receive US$75,000–US$100,000 per month) may win the right to an in-person date, for example. Notably, these will often take place in specific territories where prostitution is legal (e.g., Nevada). Moreover, models may provide online encouragement, support, and advice for one another, which is criminalized in some formal sex work.
Camming illustrates that contemporary prostitution is more than just selling sex for money: The express nature of sexual exchange may vary from sex work but shows how the two may interrelate and overlap and shows the need for a revised definition of prostitution. Within traditional sex work, the behaviors undertaken vary greatly, with call girls often offering the girlfriend experience. These different activities affect the impact that sex work has on the workers’ physical and mental well-being. Prostitution is not a universally gendered, exploitative construct detached from consent. In particular, with more individuals actively choosing to engage in sex work or sexual exchange of some kind, the variations in predictive factors that account for their choices are increasingly relevant. Advances in the study of personality have provided some clarity in this respect.
Research on three subclinical personality traits— narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy— collectively known as the Dark Triad may be vital in understanding prostitution. These traits are related, but distinct, and predict unique and overlapping outcomes. Narcissism is related to materialism as well as a wish to be seen as sexually desirable. Machiavellianism predicts behavioral flexibility: a drive to act in ways perceived as most beneficial to oneself. Psychopathy predicts impulsive, sensation-seeking behaviors (including criminality) and an emotionally detached, cold approach to life and interpersonal relationships. Psychopathy has also been related to substance use, which motivates and facilitates some individuals taking up prostitution. All three predict an unrestricted sociosexuality, relating to a willingness to engage in frequent and various short-term mating scenarios (e.g., booty call, friends with benefits relationships) in women and men. In sum, they account for a wide range of variance in the factors that have been found to predict sex work and sexual exchange.
Future Research Directions
There are both broader and deeper issues that surround prostitution and intersect with its widespread criminalization. There is a need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all theory of prostitution and to look at the motivations, behaviors, and interpersonal interactions of customers, managers, police, public, researchers, and all different types of sex workers. There is also a need to look more broadly at the impact of prostitution, including the effect that sex work has on the families and children of those involved. A growing body of work that adopts a postfeminist, pansexual, and evolutionary personality–informed approach seems to be emerging, however, expanding the understanding of prostitution in multiple important directions.
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