What is PROSTITUTION?

According to Sanjay Nair, prostitution is an exchange of money for sexual purpose that is offering sexual intercourse for pay or it is an act of sexual intercourse in exchange for money. It is also a form of any sexual act for any type of compensation; depending on the location where the act occurs. It can also include the fact that it is performance of any kind of sexual acts for money. Prostitution is offering or agreeing to engage in, or engaging in, a sex act with another in return for a fee. - http://www.rise-of-womanhood.org/definition-of-prostitution.html There are factors that are lead women to prostitution. Among the more prevalent factors are age, early home leaving, childhood sexual and physical abuse, substance abuse and economic conditions. In addition to that are parental violence, cohesion of a family unit, parental alcohol abuse, adolescent substance abuse and self-esteem contributed to an individuals involvement in prostitution (John Howard). - http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/pub/pdf/prostitu.pdf

Social Factors: Prostitution as a trade Prostitution has been called as the world's oldest profession and in contemporary society prostitution takes many forms - from dangerous streetwalking to the highend call girls who meet their clients in five-star luxury (National Geographic Channel). The extent to which street prostitution is pimp controlled is unclear from the international literature. Those who do have pimps frequently reported having long-term relationships with them. Williamson and Cluse-Tolar (2002) found that pimps used smooth talking and persuasive techniques with women, many of who find that the pimps initially offer a feeling of inclusion, being loved and security. However this soon progresses to enforced social isolation, threats, intimidation, verbal and sexual abuse and extreme physical violence to control women (Giobbe, 1993). International research shows that most women are in emotionally tangled

relationships with the men who profit from their prostitution (Barry, 1995). www.ruhama.ie/easyedit/files/Ruhama-NextStep-9.pdf Research revealed that lots of women (ranging from 40% to 80%) working in street prostitution are involved with pimps at some point (marry, 1995; NortonHawk, 2004; Silbert & Pines, 1983; Williamson & Cluse-Tolar, 2002). However this research did not focus on the techniques used by pimps to obtain these women. http://alexiskennedy0.tripod.com Economic: Source of income

Sexual abuse Prostitution is frequently alluded to as one of the possible long term effects of the sexual abuse of children. (BEST PRACTICES The House Group Hillbrow, South Africa Saving the girl child from the street http://thehousegroup.org). According to Linda Lowen, for women who are prostitutes, rape is every bit as traumatic as it is for women who are not sex workers. Researchers conducted previous studies that support sexual abuse being linked to prostitution. Melissa Farley and Howard Barkan in 1990 conducted a study on prostitution. In a sample of 130 prostitutes they found out that 82% percent have been physically assaulted since entering prostitution, of those who had been physically assaulted, 55% had been assaulted by customers, 88% had been physically threatened while in prostitution, and 83% had been physically threatened with the use of a weapon. Also, 68% have been raped since entering prostitution and 48% had been raped for more than five times while 46% had been raped by customers. Another study by the Council for Prostitution Alternatives, in Portland, Oregon,

reveals that 78% out of 55 prostituted women reported being raped an average of 16 times annually by their pimps and 33 times a year by johns. Means of supporting drug addiction According to Shelly A. Wiechelt and Corey S. Shdaimahs Journal of Forensic Social Work p. 161, a women engage in street-level prostitution may obtain money in buying buy drugs or in direct exchange for drugs. The substances that women in prostitution most commonly abuse are heroin, cocaine (crack), marijuana, and alcohol (Gossop et al., 1994; Norton-Hawk, 2001; Nuttbrock et al., 2004; Surratt et al., 2004). The temporal order of substance abuse and prostitution, however, remains an unsettled issue in the research literature. Some researchers report that substance abuse precedes women's engagement in prostitution (Inciardi & Surratt, 2001; Potterat, Rothenberg, Muth, Darrow, & Phillips-Plummer, 1998; Silbert, Pines, & Lynch, 1982), whereas others suggest that substance abuse develops subsequent to initial engagement in prostitution (Dalla, 2000; Kuhns, Heide, & Silverman, 1992). The implication is that those who abuse substances prior to engaging in prostitution do so to fund their need for substances and those who develop substance abuse problems subsequent to their involvement in prostitution use substances in response to the vagaries of prostitution. The effects of alcohol and other drugs appear to make women in prostitution feel more confident and able to manage their interactions with their customers as well as provide them with a mechanism for coping with or numbing their negative feelings (Gossop et al., 1994; Young, Boyd, & Hubbell, 2000). Some researchers note that even if women enter prostitution to fund their drug habit, the degradation and trauma involved in prostitution worsens an existing substance abuse problem (Young et al., 2000). Others note the combination of these possibilities; drug abuse can precede, co-occur with, and/or succeed entry into prostitution (Gossop et al.,1994). It is likely that whatever the etiology, once there, substance abuse and prostitution become mutually reinforcing (Norton-Hawk, 2001). Studies of crack-addicted women have found that a number of these women started in prostitution to pay for their drug habits (Erickson et al., 2000).

Silbert and Pines (1982) groundbreaking work showed that 27% of the prostituted women that they interviewed started prostituting to pay for drugs.