Women Trafficking and the Industry of Prostitution - Research Paper Example

? Women Trafficking and the Industry of Prostitution A Research Paper of Women traffickingand prostitution is now a global epidemic. Different organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, are trying to develop solutions to this global problem. One of the most controversial solutions to this problem is the legalization of prostitution. It is now a fiercely debated topic within the academic, legal, and social communities. This paper discusses and analyzes the debate over the legalization of prostitution. The argument of the paper is not to legalize prostitution. The points of the debate that the paper focuses on are the issue of ‘professionalizing’ prostitution, protecting the sexual wellbeing of prostituted women, and making a rational decision to engage in the industry of prostitution. But according to a large number of empirical findings, legalization of prostitution brings more harm than benefit to sex workers. A discussion of studies conducted in countries where prostitution is legalized is carried out in order to determine the actual nature and consequences of legalization of prostitution. Further research is needed on this subject in order to conclusively determine the merits and disadvantages of the legalization of prostitution. More country-specific studies are needed in order to decisively determine the universality of the harm prostitution brings to its victims. Introduction Prostitution is the ‘world’s oldest profession’. For centuries, women and children are dragged into a world that does not respect individual dignity and morality. Today, millions of women are trafficked into prostitution all over the world. Women trafficking and prostitution have been a challenging and complex issue for policymakers, the academic community, feminists, and social activists at the international, regional, and national levels. The problems posed by women trafficking and prostitution concern not just the abuse of women’s body by profiteers, but also the commodification and denigration of female dignity. The discourse on women trafficking and prostitution has spurred a rigorous debate on the legalization of prostitution as a solution to the growing problem of women trafficking. Prostitution should not be legalized. Prostitution will always be a form of ‘victimization’ because it is damaging to those who are involved in it. Legalization of prostitution will only further encourage women trafficking and prostitution. And prostitution could never be an unforced or voluntary form of labor because victims are not able to make a rational decision to take part in prostitution. The choices of these women are limited to economic survival only, which prevent them from making rationally based decisions. Prostitution is always involuntary and coerced because it is rooted in universal supremacy of men over women and is naturally and essentially a contemporary kind of sex slavery that is abusive, demoralizing, and damaging. The Debate Prostitution is widely described as a ‘crime without a victim’, particularly by those who argue that it should be legalized. But the truth is prostitution is a form of ‘victimization’: it is damaging to those who are involved in it, and it is usually coerced on an individual by several factors, mostly by poverty. Legalizing prostitution does not raise the status of the women; it merely professionalizes the industry of prostitution (Kara, 2010). Ditmore (2011) explains that the supporters of legalization of prostitution generally do not understand that legalization implies decriminalization of the entire industry of prostitution, not only the women trapped in it. But supporters of legalization respond to this by arguing that if the sex industry is legalized, it “would be subject to standard labor and occupation safety regulations, and it would be easier for women to fight the abuses and crimes that accompany their work” (Flowers, 2011, p. 49). Majority of prostituted women view legalization of the sex industry as a matter of choice. This is appropriately summarized by a member of the National Organization of Women: “Sex work certainly isn’t for everyone, but you have to give people the choice when it comes to their own bodies. Sex work can be dignified, honest, and honorable” (Flowers, 2011, p. 49). Advocates of the legalization of prostitution aim to ‘normalize’ and ‘professionalize’ prostitution. They question traditional views of prostitutes by asserting that they have desires, ambitions, and needs just like normal people, and that their occupation is as dignified as those other occupations. They argue that prostituted women are not ‘immoral’. Rather, they argue that “the real undermining of morality results from making illegal conduct engaged in between consenting adults and in which no one is victimized” (Weitzer, 2000, p. 175) and that it is pointless “to suggest that society’s moral fiber is undermined by ‘sex-for-pay’ but not by promiscuous sexual behavior without pay” (Weitzer, 2000, p. 175). Legislation is envisioned to encourage normalization. Adversaries of legalization claim that legalized industries of prostitution will not professionalize the activity but will only promote women trafficking. For instance, after legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands, several victim support agencies revealed a rise in the number of trafficked women and that the number of trafficked women from other countries has not lessened (Flowers, 2011). Emphasizing the connection between trafficking and legalization of prostitution, the US Department of State remarked: “Trafficking in East Asian women for the sex trade is a growing problem… lax laws-including legalized prostitution in parts of the country—make [anti-trafficking] enforcement difficult at the working level” (Farley, 2012, p. 318). Basically, legalization of prostitution only encourages women trafficking. It increases the impulse of men to purchase women for sexual gratification in a more legitimate and much broader array of socially permitted situations. Advocates of the legalization of prostitution argue that even though it would promote women prostitution the legal standing of the industry would enhance female prostitutes’ sexual wellbeing and, therefore, that of their customers. The sexual contract would take place in a secure and sanitary environment. In countries where the sex industry is legalized, prostitutes are given regular medical test as a provision of working in the industry (Parrot & Cummings, 2008). Moreover, female prostitutes and their customers are mandated to use contraception. Legalized brothels will enhance life standards for individuals who reside in vicinities presently swarmed by prostitutes (Farley, 2012). The law can oblige brothels to operate their business in locations away from communities. Lastly, supporters are claiming that current laws against prostitution are ineffective. Prostitutes are constantly taken into custody, apprehended, and fined. To pay for their release, they should work as prostitutes. The regulations prohibiting prostitution are detrimental. Legalized prostitution would endow government additional revenues and other economic advantages (Ditmore, 2011). Imposing income tax on the take-home pay of prostitutes would produce additional revenue. Opponents of legalization argue that the possibility of ‘professionalizing’ and raising the status of women through legalization does not overweigh the fact that majority of women trapped in the prostitution industry were not able to make a rational decision to take part in prostitution. They did not have other actual alternatives like nursing, accounting, management, or medicine. Rather, their ‘alternatives’ are more in the area of basic survival, like how to provide for themselves and their families. Instead of willingly participating in prostitution, a female prostitute more firmly keeps to the very few alternatives she has (Sullivan, 2007). The study of Raymond and colleagues revealed that majority of the women they interviewed admitted that decision to take part in prostitution could only be talked about and understood within the condition of the absence of other alternatives (Farley, 2012). Many portrayed prostitution as a forced survival option, or as their last resort. A recent study reported that 67% of a set of law enforcers admitted that they believe women did not engage in prostitution willingly (Farley, 2012, p. 324). The study also discovered that most social service providers they interviewed did not believe that women freely decide to engage in prostitution. However, support for the legalization of prostitution emerges, not quite unexpectedly, generally from women engaged in the sex industry. One main justification for legalizing prostitution is to encourage or make it simpler for prostituted women to file complaints against those who abuse or maltreat them. Most prostituted women often confront the danger of sexual assault in their line of work. One investigation in New Zealand revealed that female prostitutes were sexually assaulted approximately 31 times annually (Flowers, 1998, p. 64). Since prostitution is treated as a crime, very few prostituted women report an abuse. Those that do file complaints are usually disappointed by how law enforcers and prosecutors deal with them. Supporters of the legalization of prostitution argue that it would get rid of this problem that prostituted women should endure every time they are maltreated by a sex profiteer or customer (Weitzer, 2000). But opponents of legalization of prostitution claim that women who plan to file legal complaints against perpetrators will shoulder the very difficult task of attesting that they were coerced (Flowers, 1998). If female prostitutes should attest that they were forced into prostitution, only a handful of them will have legal alternative, and only a handful of perpetrators will be punished. Take for example the fact that some individuals willingly immerse themselves into the dangerous world of drugs and alcohol. Yet, although some individuals willingly take unsafe drugs, most people know that it is dangerous to them, and most people do not demand for the legalization of these harmful drugs. Within this context, it is ‘danger’ to the individual, not the ‘consent’ of the individual that is the prevailing norm (Beeks & Amir, 2006). Women in prostitution may lie about their mistreatment if they do not have useful or potential alternatives. Why prostitution should not be legalized? Conventionally, the fundamental subject matter in academic discourses of women prostitution and trafficking has been the issue of consent and harm, and in line with this, ideas about the strengths of prohibition over legalization. Supporters of the legitimacy or acceptability of prostitution claim that either no one is harmed by them, or that the people involved willingly agree to these risks as a condition of an economic transaction that rational people are freely allowed to participate in (Weitzer, 2000). Adversaries of the legalization of prostitution claim that it is certainly damaging and that the types of harms concerned are not those which an individual rationally allows. The argument at this point is that consent is pointless or nonexistent in instances where what is being objectified or sold as a commodity is a form of exploitation or maltreatment. As regards prostitution, the issue of harm largely involves both women on the whole and women who sell their bodies to survive. The harms to women who are involved in prostitution are believed to be immediate: the woman who sells her body is socially maligned and physically damaged. These harms are extremely severe that it is believed that the prostituted woman cannot realistically be thought to willingly allow them (Flowers, 1998). She may be coerced into the transaction by financial needs, or forced by noneconomic factors. The idea that women rationally accept these harms is a ‘myth’ because consent is absent in the context of prostitution. Some countries, like Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, have legalized prostitution. Legalization is thought to provide protection and security to female prostitutes and safety against health risks. However, even after legalization of the sex industry there are findings that evidently reveal that this movement has been unsuccessful and its goals have remained unmet (Farley, 2012). In the legalized sex industry the female prostitute, and not the male clients, are checked for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). One of the main goals of legalization has been to protect female prostitutes from STDs, but empirical findings have shown that activities and routines in licensed brothels place women at a greater risk (Sen & Ahuja, 2009). According to Ditmore (2011), they are exposed to greater health threats like STDs and unwanted pregnancy because male customers prefer not to use condoms because contraception reduces the sexual pleasure they get. It has been claimed by the advocates of the legalization of prostitution that it would prevent street prostitution because street prostitutions would prefer to work in licensed brothels for safety purposes. Unfortunately, this does not occur in reality. Street prostitution and dilemmas related to this have remained unchanged and at times have escalated after legalization (Sullivan, 2007). A local commission in New South Wales has established ‘safe houses’ which gives female prostitutes the option to take the male clients acquired from the tolerance zones (Sen & Ahuja, 2009, p. 156). However, according to Sullivan (2007), safe houses and facilities for prostitutes are largely seen as state controlled brothels. Another dilemma with the establishment of tolerance zone and safe houses is that local officials are promoting men’s violent sexual behavior and their inclination to maltreat female prostitutes in those zones. Legalization of prostitution according to its advocates protects the wellbeing of female prostitutes. However, findings show otherwise. The study of Marry Sullivan on the Occupational Health and Safety Codes (OHSC) for the sex industry reveals the forms of violence that are perpetrated against prostituted women. The OHSC states that women use their “intuition to work out whether the buyers are likely to be violent. But the prostituted women may be fined by their employers if they refuse to service clients whom the women considered to be dangerous” (Sen & Ahuja, 2009, p. 155). Without a doubt, legalization of prostitution makes male customers more domineering, which women detest and makes them more incapable of defying them due to stronger competition. It endows sex profiteers and brothel proprietors more authority and command. Conclusions Human trafficking is a growing trend across the globe, and this serious issue is caused by lack of access to economic opportunity and education, the inferior status given to women, and poverty. It is regarded to be a severe disrespect to the rights of women and a modern form of slavery by the global community. Women prostitution and trafficking is a serious global problem. Many solutions have been proposed but the most controversial of these is the suggestion to legalize prostitution. A number of justifications for the legalization and criminalization of prostitution have been articulated. Why do women enter prostitution or allow themselves to be trafficked into prostitution in the first place? Most researchers discovered that women take part in prostitution to survive or because of dire economic needs. They do not have any other real option. So what is its effect on prostituted women and the larger society? Advocates of the legalization of prostitution claim that prostitution does not harm women in any way because prostituted women give their consent to engage in prostitution in the first place. Moreover, legalization of the sex industry protects women from health hazards like STDs. But empirical findings reveal otherwise. Opponents of legalization argue that women prostitution and trafficking is never voluntary, it is always coerced. Most female prostitutes admitted it themselves. Furthermore, legalization has been discovered to promote women trafficking and thus increase the problems associated with it. References Beeks, K., & Amir, D. (2006). Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Ditmore, M. (2011). Prostitution and Sex Work. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Farley, M. (2012). Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress. London, UK: Routledge. Flowers, R. (1998). The Prostitution of Women and Girls. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Flowers, R. (2011). Prostitution in the Digital Age: Selling Sex from the Suite to the Street. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Kara, S. (2010). Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Parrot, A., & Cummings, N. (2008). Sexual Enslavement of Girls and Women Worldwide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Sen, S., & Ahuja, J. (2009). Trafficking in Women and Children: Myths and Realities. New Delhi, India: Concept Publishing Company. Sullivan, M. (2007). Making Sex Work: A Failed Experiment with Legalized Prostitution. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press. Weitzer, R. (2000). Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry. London, UK: Routledge. Read More