DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

VISAKHAPATNAM, AP, INDIA

PROJECT TITLE
Prostitution: Feminist Perspective

SUBJECT
Jurisprudence

NAME OF THE FACULTY

Mr. Arvindnath Tripathi

NAME OF THE STUDENT

Allaka M

ROLL NO: 20108006

SEMESTER- III
SECTION- A

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am highly indebted to my Hon’ ble Jurisprudence Professor Arvindnath Tripathi for giving me
a wonderful opportunity to work on the topic: “Prostitution: Feminist Perspective”, and it is
because of his excellent knowledge, experience and guidance, this project is made with great
interest and effort. I would also like to thank my seniors who have guided my novice knowledge
of doing research on such significant topic. I would also take this as an opportunity to thank my
parents for their support at all times. I have no words to express my gratitude to each and every
person who have guided and suggested me while conducting my research work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Introduction
2) Objectives of the Study
3) Research Methodology
4) Chapter 1: Feminist views on prostitution
5) Chapter 2: Reasons for women entering into prostitution
6) Chapter 3: Forms of feminism
7) Chapter 4: Preventive Measures to Tackle the Problem of Prostitution
8) Chapter 5: law related to prostitution
9) Conclusion
10) Bibliography

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Introduction
There is a very strange and complex relationship between feminism and sex work. For many
feminists, the question remains if sex work is the result of a patriarchal society, or an
empowering choice? From there, the question goes to the legal status of sex work.

Some feminists believe that prostitution isn’t morally wrong, but in the context of the current
social and economic situation of women, it perpetuates women’s subordinate status. Other
feminist reasons against prostitution stem from the issue of the heavy consequences of sex work,
such as risk of violence and sexually transmitted diseases. Those in favor of legalizing sex work
say that it can help women build careers for themselves, which can be empowering. Pro-sex
workers believe that saying that prostitution is an issue for women, detracts from the myriad of
other social structures that lead to the oppression of women.

On one end of the spectrum there are feminists completely against prostitution. Laurie Shrage
makes a case for this feminist perspective, saying “female prostitution oppresses women, not
because some women who participate in it ‘suffer in the eyes of society’ but because its
organized practice testifies to and perpetuates socially hegemonic beliefs which oppress all
women in many domains of their lives.” That is just intelligent language saying that prostitution
oppresses women. Sex work contributes to a patriarchal society in the sense that although there
are some women who run brothels and pimp out girls, a majority of the business owners, pimps,
and clients are males. In this way, prostitution leads to women in a constant state of servitude,
and a cycle of misogyny.

Other feminists believe that sex work can be turned into a very safe and profitable venture for
women. Some women may enjoy work that allows them to take charge of their own bodies and
express their sexuality; it can be liberating. In their eyes, prostitution is not exploitative of
women and under the proper conditions, can actually serve as a benefit. These conditions include
training on STDs and self-defense, the right to refuse engaging in dangerous situations, the right
to unionize, limits on the proportion of their income that managers can take, benefits like health
insurance and sick day, etc. Basically if sex work is legalized and sex workers are offered the
same protections offered to people in other industries, it would be recognized and treated as

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legitimate work. The sex industry represents billions of dollars, but very little of that is actually
given into the hands of women. Women who do work in the sex industry are stigmatized and
shunned, but there is a very large sense of hypocrisy in that.

The issue of what to do with prostitution is not a simple one to solve. All I have to say is that
prostitution has been here for thousands of years and will continue to exist. Be it empowering or
demeaning, moral or immoral, women deserve safer conditions and equality in the sex industry.

Research Methodology:
This study has been carried out in a descriptive and analytical manner. Secondary and
published documented data has been collected through various sources and analyzed
accordingly. No field work has been carried out in the development of this work.

Objectives:
i) To study the feminist view on prostitution
ii) To anaylze the concept of prostitution in different types of feminism
iii) To find out the solution of the problem faced by prostitutes by analyzing their solution
iv) To describe the laws related to prostitution

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 Feminist views on prostitution

As with many issues within the feminist movement, there exists a diversity of feminist views
on prostitution. Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint
that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and sex work.1

Anti-prostitution feminists hold that prostitution is a form of exploitation of women and male
dominance over women, and a practice which is the result of the existing patriarchal societal
order. These feminists argue that prostitution has a very negative effect, both on the prostitutes
themselves and on society as a whole, as it reinforces stereotypical views about women, who are
seen as sex objects which can be used and abused by men.

Other feminists hold that prostitution and other forms of sex work can be valid choices for
women and men who choose to engage in it. In this view, prostitution must be differentiated
from forced prostitution, and feminists should support sex worker activism against abuses by
both the sex industry and the legal system.

The disagreement between these two feminist stances has proven particularly contentious, and
may be comparable to the feminist sex wars (acrimonious debates on sex issues) of the late
twentieth century.22

Newman and White in Women, Politics and Public Policy argue that feminist perspectives
on prostitution agree on three main points: “First, they condemn the current legal policy
enforcing criminal sanctions against women who offer sex in exchange for money. Second, they
agree that authentic consent is the sine qua non of legitimate sex, whether in commercial or non-
commercial form. Third, all feminists recognize that commercial sex workers are subject to
economic coercion and are often victims of violence, and that little is done to address these
problems.3

1
O’Neill, Maggie (2001). Prostitution and Feminism. Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 14–16.
2
Alexander, Priscilla (1997). "Feminism, Sex Workers and Human Rights". In Nagle, Jill.Whores and Other
Feminists. New York: Routledge. pp. 83–90.
3
Newman and White (2012). Women Power and Public Policy. Oxford University Press. p. 247.

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They go on to identify three main feminist views on the issue of prostitution. The sex work
perspective, the abolitionist perspective and the outlaw perspective. The sex work perspective
maintains that prostitution is a legitimate form of work for women faced with the option of other
4
bad jobs, therefore women ought to have the right to work in the sex trade free of prosecution or
the fear of it. The sex work perspective also argues that governments should eliminate laws that
criminalize voluntary prostitution. This, the sex work perspective asserts, will allow prostitution
to be regulated by governments and business codes, protect sex trade workers, and improve the
ability to prosecute people who hurt them. The Abolitionist perspective holds that governments
should work towards the elimination of prostitution. The Outlaw Perspective views work in the
sex trade as a “stepping stone to a better career or an expression of sexual freedom.5

REASONS FOR WOMEN ENTERING INTO PROSTITUTION

“While there’s no doubt that money is the primary reason for the women becoming prostitutes,
it is very surprising that sexual motivation ranks so highly,”6

There are many reasons for women becoming sex workers and escorts. Some of the reasons are
as follows :

A: Monetary Gain :
The main reason that has been stated is that prostitutes are attracted by the large sums of money
they can earn while they are still young. Others see it as a way to pay for university education
and further advancement. Most state that they intend to leave the business once they have earned
the amount they want or need. They also see themselves as helping men save their marriages by
supplying something they cannot get at home. Some are desperate they need money to pay bills
or buy drugs.
Many women are forced to enter in this profession because of poverty and hunger. They are
forced to earn a living by their parents or husbands who are either so lazy that they force these

5
Newman and White (2012). Women Power and Public Policy. Oxford University Press. p. 248.
6
Jens Kofod

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women to earn for them or they are in some way unable to work and dependent on the female for
a living.
Women who see prostitution as their way out of poverty. While they may choose to sell
themselves, it is economic necessity that drives them. These are people who are unable to get
jobs or get satisfactory jobs which can fulfill their needs and are sometimes the only bread
winners in the family.

B: For Sexual Pleasure :

Women are not always forced into the prostitution market but rather choose to enter it for many
of the same reasons that people enter the conventional job market – money, stability, autonomy
and even job satisfaction. Half of the prostitutes in a new survey say they became prostitutes
because of sexual curiosity, and 68 percent consider their line of work as part of their sexuality.
Some choose prostitution out of their own free will, as they are very desperate or sexually
demanding or are unsatisfied or bored of their husbands. Some do it to chase away loneliness
when their husbands are on business trips. There are people who are driven by a compulsive
need for sex. This can be true for men or women. There are women driven by an insatiable need
for sexual pleasure. Without it they are in a perpetual state of frustration.

C: Child Prostitution :
Child prostitution designates the use of children for sexual activities in exchange for
remuneration or another form of retribution (gifts, food, clothes, etc).7 It is a world you don’t
want to enter, the shadowy world of the child prostitute. Peer into it – and you will see aspects of
human nature you would prefer to leave well alone. Many young girls go into prostitution
because they have been molested as a child and the sexual abuse has become acceptable in her
mind. This same young girl is from a home with little love and care for who she is or what she
does... so she seeks it wherever she can. The principal cause of prostitution is poverty. Parents
often feel obligated to sell their children to pimps because their low salary does not allow them
to meet the needs of their family. Poverty also becomes a cause of abandonment. This rejection
forces children to leave their family environment to become street children. Vulnerable and in

7
Willis, Brian M.; Levy, Barry S. (April 20, 2002). "Child prostitution: global health burden, research needs, and
interventions"

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need of money, they are the main targets of operators who promise them work and remuneration.
Sexual exploiters utilise the docility of children because they are less able to defend themselves.
D: ORPHANS :
Each year, wars, natural catastrophes and the HIV/AIDS epidemic all contribute to the increase
in the number of orphans. Being so vulnerable, these children accept any kind of work.
Prostitution becomes a way to survive because the activity is extremely profitable compared to
other forms of degrading or dangerous work. These abandoned children have nowhere to go,
their homes destroyed, their families lost, nobody to take care of them or support them even
financially. These orphans fall prey easily to prostitution. Once they get into it, there is no way of
getting out and moreover that becomes their only source of livelihood as they remain uneducated
and unskilled to carry out other jobs. Moreover, this leads to negative effects on the wellbeing
and mental health of the child later on in life and hence he cannot lead a normal life.

E: Sex Discrimination :
This is another major cause for a woman or a girl child to become a victim of prostitution. This
happens because of the major social issue of sex discrimination. The devaluation of the girl child
and discriminatory practices play a major role in increasing the number of girl child in
prostitution. Families and parents who wanted a boy but were blessed with a girl child that they
consider as a burden or an evil, sought measures to get rid of them. They throw, dump or
abandon these little girls. They throw them on dustbins or streets or give them to pimps to get
money in return of something which is a waste for them. They consider it a good deal and hence
these kids are prone to fall prey to prostitution.

F: Lack of Opportunities :
Some women lack opportunities and hence have no choice but to enter the evil world of
prostitution. Due to several reasons these women have to opt for this profession. Some of them
are orphans, some are abandoned, some were rejected for being a girl child and for many other
reasons which prevented them to get an opportunity to study, learn and get educated. They could
not learn new skills and techniques to earn a living for themselves. They lack of educational,
employment and vocational opportunities but they need to earn for they have the responsibility

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of other women or children who are dependent on them for a living. Hence, with no choice left,
they have to sell themselves to earn bread and butter for the family.

G: Human Trafficking :Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the
purpose of sexual slavery, forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or
others, or for providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage. 8 Human trafficking is a crime
against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion
and because of their commercial exploitation. In most cases, prostituted children are under the
control of pimps, who earn a percentage of the child’s revenues. It is very difficult to diminish
this hold. These pimps may be local former child prostitutes, or on a larger scale may belong to a
global network of organised crime. The intermediaries are, ‘The chain which binds a child to
their exploiter can be thousands of kilometers long’. Also considered to be intermediaries are
recruiters, transporters, owners of brothels and taxi drivers, not to mention policemen who will
all too often close their eyes to this curse.

H: Increasing Demand by men :

Factors that motivate men for the need of a prostitute: 1. Believing they are ugly and unable to
have sex without paying for it, 2. Wanting sex but without all of emotional involvement that
comes with a girlfriend, marriage and family; wanting casual sex with no obligations attached, 3.
Being convinced that their genitalia is too small and that any average woman would laugh at and
reject them, 4. Working long, hard hours leaving no time for dating and romance.

I: Illegitimate Motherhood:
The women who become pregnant as a result of their liaisons and who cannot get abortion get
exposed in society. Nobody wants to marry them but everybody wants to enjoy them sexually.
Desperately such women prefer to become regular prostitutes.

J: Bad Neighbourhood:
The children living near brothels or in the company of immoral persons become so used to
seeing sex trade that they come to accept it as normal. The brothel keepers usually haunt these

8
"Amnesty International - People smuggling".

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areas for their prey. The children who get exposed to sex business want to have these
exhilarating experiences at the first available opportunity.

K: Bad working conditions:

In India many women are able to get employment through intermediaries. These intermediaries
and agents recruit women and keep them at their mercy whenever
opportunity offers itself they exploit it fully and often succeed in receiving sexual bribe. Once a
woman falls prey to their lust they in no time make a professional out of her.

L: Biological Factors:
The persons born with defective sex organs or over active glands may feel compelled to seek sex
gratification in a bizarre manner.

M: Religious and Cultural Factors:

In India there has been religious sanction to prostitution. In south, every family was supposed to
offer one daughter to the temple where apparently she was supposed to serve gods with total
dedication. They were known as devadasis –god-slaves. But in actual practice they lived a life of
prostitution. In ancient and medieval Indian prostitutes enjoyed the status of courtesans, that is,
pleasure girls of courtiers and kings.

N: Other Factors Include :9

 Economic conditions, especially rural poverty, fueled by economic development

policies and the erosion of agricultural sectors.
 Rural to urban migration and the growth of urban industrial centers.
 Movement from subsistence to cash based economy and increased consumerism.
 Lack of laws and law enforcement.
 Criminal networks who organize the sex industry and recruit the children.
 Law enforcement /governmental complicity in the sex trade.
 Demands of foreign sex industries creating international trade in girls and women.

9
Child Prostitution (thirdworldorphans.org)

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  Fear of AIDS, leading customers to demand younger girls.
 Early marriage and child marriage.
 Traditional and cultural practices, including the demand for virgins, the cultural
practice of men patronizing prostitutes, inter-generational patterns of girls entering
prostitution.
 Employers using the debt-bond (slavery) system, forced labour and child labour.
 Demand of sex tourists and the migrant labor force.

International promotion of the sex industry through information technology.

Forms of feminism
There are many forms of feminism. Five have expressed strong views on the issue of
prostitution, namely: Marxist feminism, liberal feminism, existentialist feminism, socialist
feminism, and radical feminism.. This is necessary because feminism is vibrant and changing,
particularly in the case of radical feminism and liberal feminism, which either reinvent
themselves or transform with time. An additional difficulty in forming a clear view of feminism
is the fact that some feminists may ascribe to one ideology yet borrow ideas from another form
of feminism. Feminists may embrace most of the tenets of a particular form of feminist theory,
while rejecting a few of its precepts outright. In all cases, one thing is certain: feminism is about
promoting a world in which women enjoy an equal share of the rights and power.

Radical feminism
Radical feminism opposes prostitution on the grounds that it degrades women and furthers the
power politics of the male gender. Feminists seek to be supportive of sex workers while
deploring the work itself as inherently wrong. While they do not admit to taking an ethical
position in contemporary moral terms, radical feminists are in fact making a moral statement.
Once their arguments are evaluated in an ethical light they tend to break down logically. Much of
the problem stems from a lack of understanding of ethical concepts such as virtue, morality, and
degradation. Other problems with their position, as exemplified in Kathleen Barry’s writings,
evolve from a political theory that is oververbalized, generalized, and too often uses stereotypical

12
notions of what a prostitute is. The radical feminist views are thoughtful but not always
delineated sufficiently to support a credible theory that prostitution degrades all women

Radical feminism in this writing is discussed at greater length than other forms of feminism
because of the nature of certain beliefs radical feminists hold about prostitutes.10 They tend to be
mechanical in their analysis of prostitution, separating the moral and spiritual forces of
relationships from the temporal forces. In doing so they present an incomplete view of
relationships between men and women, as well as the intricate relationships between prostitutes
and their clients. radical feminists make a philosophical case for the idea that men’s aggressive
sexual nature is not biological, but rather culturally engendered and therefore capable of being
modified. Many men believe their sexual inclinations are inherited traits, and therefore a
birthright,. Thus, it is reasonable to posit the idea that a multiplicity of influences leads to the
oppression of women, not simply the aggressive impulses of men.11

Liberal Feminism

In liberal feminism, prostitution is conceived of in the contractrarian sense of being a private

business transaction. Radical feminists, on the other hand, view a prostitute as a human being
who has been reduced to a piece of merchandise. The liberal contends that a woman is free to
enter into contracts. However, the radical feminist does not believe that a prostitute’s desire to
enter into such a “contract” is done of her own free will. The radical feminist usually sees
prostitution as an exploitative relationship in which the customer is interested only in the
prostitute’s services and not her personally. But the liberal responds to this by pointing out that
when one seeks out a professional such as a doctor, lawyer, plumber, or mechanic, one is not
centrally concerned in the person doing the professional work—only his or her services.23

Since variations in educational level and experience will define how much freedom a person has
to make their own decisionsBut Carol Pateman in The Sexual Contract goes to some length to
show that the prostitute is not really a wage laborer but rather an independent contractor who has

10
Women are also exploiters of other women. Human passions and greeds are not endemic to one sex or the other. If a woman of
questionable morality wants something badly enough she is likely to exploit any easy source that can satisfy her desire, whether it
is a man or a woman.
11 Mankind Evolving, p. 15

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it within her means to start or stop a transaction. Her contract is with a male customer and not an
employer.24 In this respect, the liberal position’s defense of the contractual work agreement
makes sense. The liberal feminist wants to free women from oppressive gender roles. This focus
bears a similarity to the existentialist position which seeks equality of rights and freedoms
between women and men. But just because liberal feminists tend to see the choice of prostitution
as an inherent political right does not necessarily mean that they all approve of prostitution in a
moral sense.

Marxist Feminism

Marxist feminism arises out of the doctrines of Karl Marx, whose theory is centered less on
the material aspects of life than on the more broadly defined social ones. Simone Weil
in Oppression and Liberty describes Marxism as being a theory quite incomplete insofar as its
application is concerned, yet very relevant in describing the mechanisms of economic growth.
Central to Marxism is the idea of the divisions of labor, which are familiarly evident in the
capitalist system. Marxist feminists base their arguments of moral right and wrong in reference
to the corruption of wage labor that is in itself an expression of class distinctions.12 “Wage
earning is a form of oppression, that the workers are inevitably enslaved under a system of
production where, deprived of knowledge and skill, they are reduced practically to
nothing.”34 Following this doctrine, Marxists are opposed to any social or political action that
perpetuates the enslavement and oppression of members of the work force. Prostitution is a form
of labor and therefore has been specifically noted as falling under the designation of a corruption
of wage labor. Marx himself asserted that “prostitution is only a specific expression of the
general prostitution of the laborer.13 Prostitution, therefore, can be seen as standing as a symbol
of all that is wrong with world policies in society. Prostitutes may feel that they are free, but

12
Class distinctions are what Marx objects to in his complex theory of
economic determinism. But without such divisions of labor, productivity
would be low and the quality of life diminished, except perhaps in small island nations in warm climates where the
struggles of day to day survival might be less than in the colder regions. “Among all the forms of social organization
which history has to show, there are very few which appear to be really free from oppression; and those few are not
very well known. All of them correspond to extremely low level of production, so low that the division of labor is
pretty well unknown, except between the sexes, and each family produces little more than its own requirements.”
Simone Weil, Oppression and Liberty (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1955), pp. 61-62
13
The sexual contract p206

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looking at the larger economic picture in Marxist terms, they are in reality oppressed workers
reinforcing and perpetuating an exploitative capitalistic scheme. However, Pateman in The
Sexual Contract sees prostitutes otherwise, pointing out that they are not wage laborers, but
rather independent contractors. In her thinking, “The objection that the prostitute is harmed or
degraded by her trade misunderstands the nature of what is traded. The body and the self of the
prostitute are not offered in the market; she can contract out use of her services without detriment
to herself.14 Moreover, philosopher Robert Nozick believes that peoples’ rights predominate over
concerns for what harm may come to them. He believes that a person has the right to sell himself
or herself into slavery if that is his.15

What appears to have gone unnoticed in Marxism, Marxist feminism, and radical feminism is
that there is the perception that in the capitalist system there is a stripping away of the spiritual
qualities of life as a person is reduced to being a mere cog in a machine.16 There is a tendency in
some feminist writings to discuss the relationship between feminism and prostitution in much the
same terms, thus stripping away the transcendent and spiritual qualities of prostitutes and leaving
only a mechanistic view of prostitutes within prostitution.

Socialist feminism

Socialist feminism appears to adopt some of the same tenets of Marxism, but instead of
focusing on economic determinism as the primary source of oppression, the socialist feminist
sees the oppression as having psychological and social roots.17 They share a genuine concern for
women that transcends politics. Their focus is on people, not profits. To the socialist feminist,
the prostitute is a victim of the corruption of a society which accompanies class distinctions. The
oppression of class in a materialistic society degrades people by categorizing them in a particular

14
Ibid., p. 191
15
Robert Nozick, in an article by Alison M. Jaggar, in The Philosophy of Sex, p. 264.
16
In Oppression and Liberty, Weil speaking of Marx, “In the factory,” he writes in Capital, “there exists a
mechanism independent of the workers, which incorporates them as living cogs...The separation of the spiritual
forces that play a part in production from manual labor,” p.41
17
Ibid., p. 192.

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class and objectifying them so that they are merely parts of a mechanism that can be replaced by
other parts of the same description. In both the socialist feminist and Marxist feminist
perspectives prostitution is discouraged, but neither school of thought seeks a legal remedy for
its elimination. They believe that the cause of prostitution is in the structuring of society, and that
is where the solution will reside.

Existentialist Feminism

Existentialist feminism derives from the school of thought of Simone de Beauvoir. In her
world-view, the woman is not always powerless and does not always need to be dependent in a
male-female relationship. Prostitution allows women an avenue of escape from dependency on
men in a way that does not leave them victims, but empowered women.18 Equality of rights and
freedom between the sexes is desirable. However, if they are not forthcoming, prostitution can
provide the woman with the kind of liberty that is immediate, affirming, and temporally
rewarding. De Beauvoir appears to exalt all women as possessing the capacity to realize their
innate power in the sense of the feminine warrior spirit. In the existentialist view, the power of a
competent woman over a man is not an illusion. A man may think he is in charge of a situation
by virtue of his power to degrade and subdue a woman, but with a woman of competence and
spirit this “power” is not incontrovertible. In Carol Pateman’s words directed towards the role of
a woman as a prostitute, “The man may think he ‘has’ her, but his sexual possession is an
illusion; it is she who has him...she will not be ‘taken,’ since she is being paid. 19 The spirit of
entrepreneurship prevails here instead of the darker concerns of Marxism, which views
employment as exploitative and oppressive. To her the prostitute is not the fallen and oppressed
victim, rather the “quintessential liberated woman.”30 While believing that women are oppressed
by an inequality between the sexes, she also believes there is an escape by economic means.20 So
on the one hand a prostitute is viewed as an oppressed woman, and on the other, a liberated one
by way of a successful economic strategy for her own survival.

Preventive Measures to Tackle the Problem of Prostitution

18
Extrapolations from Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women’s Lives, p. 191.
19
Jaggar in Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women’s Lives, p. 19
20
Ibid., p.191

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Many efforts have been made to close the brothels and the places which encourage prostitution.
The legislations have been enacted. Besides, some necessary measures those are necessary to
root our evil that is given below:

Sex Education: Both men and women should be educated about and dangers of venereal
diseases or sexually transmitted diseases and the sources of such diseases and their negative
impact on marital and familiar relations, there are various steps to educate people. The values of
self control should be taught at an early age. These should be a provision for sex education to
young people in schools and colleges. Suitable literature for sex education should be distributed
to the young ones by some social welfare agencies. The Association for Moral and Social
Hygiene in India is also working in this direction. The sex education is also helpful in avoiding
unwanted pregnancies before marriage and also after marriage.

Employment opportunities for Women: Girls and women are forced to take up this profession
because of extreme poverty. Hence training and education should be provided to them. Imparting
education, training and skills will increase the employability of women in job market. Economic
empowerment can prevent the poor women from entering this degraded profession.

Abolition of Certain Social Customs: Widow Remarriage should be encouraged. With Window
Remarriage Act window became free to marry. Unfortunately the restriction of Society
International Research Journal of Social Sciences (ISSN 2319–3565 Vol. 2(3), 31-39, March
(2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. International Science Congress Association 39) on widow marriage
has perpetuated. The system of dowry which debarred many girls from getting married should be
discouraged wholeheartedly in practice. There is an urgent need to change the society’s attitude
towards the widow marriage, dowry and devadasi. Double Standards of morality has to be
discouraged: The notation of double standards of morality should be discouraged. As Smt.
Ranganayaki observes,” It is in reality impossible to have double standard morally in matters of
sex for without male chastity, female chastity is impossible. As a result of a double standard of
morality which demands ds woman to be chaste, and expects man to be irregular and there
developed tolerated vice”.

Publicity and propaganda: Public should be enlightened on the legislations and if any such
nuisances in the surrounding areas are found then, immediately one should come forward to
report this event. Besides, films stimulating sex interest and pornographic literature should be

17
discouraged. The present younger generation has a free access to Internet. In internet there are
many sites are there that are capable of bringing down the moral standards among youngsters,
hence, parents should be cautious about the internet habits of their children. Establishment of
Venereal Disease Clinics: Special Venereal Disease Clinics should be opened to treat the
victims of venereal diseases. Diagnostic facilities should be provided to vulnerable groups like
prostitutes and lorry drivers.

Bulletins: Pamphlets should be issued to create public awareness about the flesh trade. Public
should be advised to seek treatment immediately if they are suffering from such venereal
diseases. Besides, there should be free blood test examination and treatment of all antenatal cases
to ensure the birth of normal, healthy children free from all congenital blemishes.

Laws related to prostitution in India:

Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girl Act -1956

Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act-1956
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956
The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 ("ITPA"), the main statute dealing with sex work
in India, does not criminalise prostitution or prostitutes per se, but mostly punishes acts by third
parties facilitating prostitution like brothel keeping, living off earnings and procuring, even
where sex work is not coerced.
Section3. Punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel.(1) Any
person who keeps or manages, or acts or assists in the keeping or management of, a brothel, shall
be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one year
and not more than three years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and
in the event of a second or subsequent to conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not
less than two years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend to two
thousand rupees.

(2) A any person who, -

(a) Being the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of any premises, uses, or knowingly
allows any other person to use, such premises or any part thereof as a brothel, or

18
(b) Being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such owner, lessor or
landlord, lets the same or any part thereof with the knowledge that the same or any part thereof is
intended to be used as a brothel, or is willfully a party to the use of such premises or any part
thereof as a brothel, shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to two years and with fine which fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and
in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which
may extend to five years and also with fine.
(2-A) For the purposes of sub-section (2), it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that
any person referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of that subsection, is knowingly allowing the
premises or any part thereof to be used as a brothel or, as the case may be, has knowledge that
the premises or any part thereof are being used as a brothel, if, -

(a) A report is published in a newspaper having circulation in the area in which such person resides
to the effect that the premises or any part thereof have been found to be used for prostitution as a
result of a search made under this Act; or
(b) (b) A copy of the list of all things found during the search referred to in clause (a) is given to such
person.

Section5. Procuring, inducing or taking person for the sake of prostitution.

(1.) Any person who-
(a) Procures or attempts to procure a person whether with or without his/her consent, for the
purpose of prostitution; or

(b) Induces a person to go from any place, with the intent that he/she may for the purpose of
prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent, a brothel; or

(c) Takes or attempts to take a person or causes a person to be taken, from one place to another
with a view to his/her carrying on, or being brought up to carry on prostitution; or

(d) Causes or induces a person to carry on prostitution; shall be punishable on conviction with
rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than three years and not more than seven years and

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also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, and if any offence under this sub-
section is committed against the will of any person, the punishment of imprisonment for a term
of seven years shall extend to imprisonment for a term of fourteen years:

Provided that if the person in respect of whom an offence committed under this sub-section, -
(i) Is a child, the punishment provided under this sub-section shall extend to rigorous
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years but may extend to life; and

(ii) Is a minor; the punishment provided under this sub-section shall extend to rigorous
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and not more than fourteen years.
So it can be seen that both the sections namely section 3 and section 5 punishes only the acts of
the 3rd party and same does the other sections in the Act and so new legislation shall be passed
as to punish the client who are visiting the prostitutes

Conclusion
The active logical component that degrades women here is not to be found in the word
prostitution. The logical component that degrades is to be found in individual actions that go
against strongly held cultural values. In other words, prostitution does not degrade people, people
degrade themselves by falling into objectifiably discernible patterns of behavior. The word
prostitution implies the more passive component, while the “going against values” is the more
active component. In general, prostitution is a result of an action or description of an action that
alters a person’s social standing with regard to cultural values. In subsequent writings, when the
idea of degradation is extended to pornography, there is an implied degradation of the civility of
men to control their impulses rather than a degradation of women in general. While this would
seem applicable to the presence of prostitutes in society, the issues are quite different. There are
counterbalancing forces in prostitution that can limit destructive effects on the civility of men
that may not be evident with pornography.
Radical feminists’ views on prostitution are thoughtful but not always delineated well enough to
firm up a credible social theory that prostitution is wrong because it degrades women. The
argument that prostitution is degrading is a view that is part of a larger ethical view of human

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behavior that finds some actions generative and others degenerative.57 There are many other
competing degenerative behaviors to be considered in the larger picture of human affairs.
Radical feminists have contributions to make to the discussion of prostitution, but their frequent
narrowness of perspective, presented as global truth, leaves much to be desired in examining
prostitution as a complex issue.
The goal of feminism can be seen as an attempt to improve the quality of women’s lives by
promoting a world in which they can thrive equally with men. Feminists have explored many
facets of the problem and have come to divergent opinions on how to achieve such a goal. It is
difficult to understand why some feminists feel the presence of prostitutes in society is so
threatening. What they want, and what most of us want, is a better world and a society that is
morally, socially, and intellectually viable.
Prostitutes have been singled out and scorned for thousands of years. It seems almost to be a
wired-in reaction of religion and politics to attack the weakest and most disenfranchised as
symbols of the problems of society. Our society is a fiercely competitive one in which unfairness
and exploitation are rife, thrusting some to the bottom where their only avenue to survival is to
become prostitutes. Upon finding an occupation in which they finally can view themselves as
successful competitors, prostitutes are often attacked by feminists as perpetrators of the
degradation of all women. It is amazing how creative societies are at coming up with new
varieties of the same old complaints that view prostitutes with scorn. But having already endured
centuries of exploitation, abuse, murder, and slavery for what they do, there is not much
prostitutes have to worry about from feminists. The intentions of feminists are essentially benign.
They make a compelling argument that the problem of oppression by men is every woman’s
problem. In this respect it is incumbent upon prostitutes to become aware of the problems that
women are trying to work out with men. If prostitutes show some interest in the issues of
feminism, feminists may become more familiar with prostitutes’ lives in such a way that there
may be a mutually beneficial influence in understanding the issue of prostitution.

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Bibliography

 PROSTITUTION IN INDIA - ERCESOQR

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/11/prostitution-legalised-sex-
trade-pimps-women

 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-women-prostitution/legalizing-prostitution-
lowers-violence-and-disease-report-says-idUSKBN1OA28N
 www//sexualrightsinitiative.com/
 www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/97778/responding
-to-prostitution.pdf

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