Researchers have found the study of prostitution a challenge, because the exact size of the population is unknown, making a representative sample difficult to come by (Shaver, 2005). Also, because prostitution is illegal, many prostitutes are hidden, so their behaviors cannot be measured.
Defining prostitution is not easy. The U. S. legal code is ambiguous about what constitutes prostitution; for instance, some state penal codes define prostitution as the act of hiring out one’s body for sexual intercourse, whereas other states define prostitution as sexual intercourse in exchange for money or as any sexual behavior that is sold for profit. Some consider erotic dancers and models to be a form of prostitution (Dalla, 2002).
in Real Life
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Am I a Prostitute?
Dictionaries also have different definitions for prostitution. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary defines prostitution as “offering of the body to indicate lewdness for hire,” whereas the American Heritage Dictionary defines a prostitute as “a person who solicits and accepts payment for sexual intercourse.” Take a moment to read over the scenarios in the accompanying Sex in Real Life, “Am I a Prostitute?” Based on the first definition, Sue, Will, and Tim are prostitutes; but, by the second definition, only Sue could be considered a prostitute. For our purposes in this chapter, we define prostitution as the act of a male or female engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money or other material goods.
Over the course of time, prostitutes have been called many slang terms, such as “whores,” “hookers,” “sluts,” or “hustlers.” Some other terms often used when discussing prostitution include a pimp, who may act as a protector and business manager for many prostitutes; and a madam, who is in charge of managing a home, brothel, or group of prostitutes. A john is a person who hires a prostitute, and a trick is the service that the prostitute performs (although recently trick has come to mean the same as john). Historically, most prostitutes worked in brothels, although with the exception of certain areas of Nevada, few brothels remain in the United States. However, brothels are still widespread in the Asian world.
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reins of economic and political power, some women exploit the only asset that cannot be taken away from them—their sexuality. Other sociologists used to claim that women actually benefited from prostitution because, from a purely economic point of view, they get paid for giving something away that is free to them. Kingsley Davis, one of the most famous sociologists of this century, wrote:
The woman may suffer no loss at all, yet receive a generous reward, resembling the artist who, paid for his work, loves it so well that he would paint anyway. Purely from the angle of economic return, the hard question is not why so many women become prostitutes, but why so few of them do. (As quoted in Benjamin, 1961, p. 876)