The Sociology of Prostitution

The Sociology of Prostitution

Introduction

Beginning around 1910, many religious and civic organizations in the United States started to develop a nationwide campaign against the immorality of prostitution. Although the government and other organizations may view prostitution as an immoral act, depending on a person's social perspective, he or she may view prostitution as being acceptable in today's society. On the other hand, a person may see prostitution as an immoral display. This once again depends on the person's sociological point of view. When prostitution is viewed with the perspective of differential association, what type of people he or she is surrounded by, and also what type of environment that surrounds the person will determine the person's analysis of prostitution. If a person has grown up surrounded by prostitutes, pimps, or anything in general that deals with prostitution, the person would view prostitution as being an acceptable way of life and survival. Likewise, a person that has not been surrounded by prostitution or has never encountered it will tend to see it as deviant and unjust (Henslin, 1978).

Prostitution is believed to be one of the oldest professions in the world. The fact that it drifts away from conventional definitions of work in a multitude of aspects leads one to view it from a critical perspective. Though prostitution shares many similarities with other forms of occupations, it has been labeled as a social deviance by outsider and society that does not support prostitution. Hence, though prostitutes themselves might view prostitution as their job, those who do not engage in the trade view it from a derogatory angle. The definition of prostitution as a form of work varies between different sections of society.

Discussion

The term prostitution is popularly used to refer to the trade of sexual services for payment in cash or kind, and so to a form of social interaction that is simultaneously sexual and economic. This makes prostitution a difficult cultural category, for in most societies sexual and economic relations are imagined and regulated in very different ways. Prostitution therefore straddles two quite different symbolic domains. Since these domains are highly gendered, the female prostitute has long represented a troubling figure, disrupting what are traditionally deemed to be natural gender binaries (active/passive, public/private, etc.), and stigmatized as unnatural, immoral, and polluting. More recently it has been treated as an understandable and reasonable response for socio-economic need within the context of a consumer culture and within a social framework that privileges male sexuality. Women working as prostitutes are exploited by those who manage and organize this industry. In contemporary society, prostitution for many women is freely chosen as a form of work. Ultimately, the sex industry is structured by deeply embedded attitudes and values, which are oppressive to women, for it depends upon the naturalization of certain principles, set by society. In this essay forth, I shall attempt to address the issue on female prostitution in Thailand between the 16th to 20th century as a form of work within ...