Commoditizing sex is not a novel concept, it has been around for much of our history, and yet there is much more talk of the sex industry in modern society than it has been in the past. Part of the reason for this has been the oversexualization of Hollywood and the belief that fame is a commodity. Even fleeting fame is idolized, and people ignore the means of achieving fame at the prospect of earning those alluring so-called “fifteen minutes of fame”. The film Hot Girls Wanted exemplifies this concept. Both this film and Don’t Shout Too Loud display the dark side of the business; the two films to varying degrees. The latter film explored human trafficking as an institution and focused more specifically on the impact the World Cup made on South Africa’s human trafficking problem. Each film impacted my personal understanding of the sex industry. Discussion of the sex industry contemporaneously takes a much more casual tone than in years past. The combination of this relaxed attitude with outright statements defending their involvement in the sex industry as liberating and voluntary led me to extrapolate that as a whole, this was an industry of progress which was on the rise. I believed that consent was universal in this business and never particularly found need to question why or under what circumstances people became involved in that trade. After watching Hot Girls Wanted, and especially Don’t Shout Too Loud, I learned that my belief was fundamentally incorrect. Every
It’s important to recognize these biases because there isn’t much press coverage about this industry and it usually errors on the melodramatic side. On the other hand, Barbara Brents the foremost expert on Nevada’s licensed brothels, has come to very different conclusions about the state’s most controversial industry. Brents is a professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and she, along with her colleagues, has over 15 years of field research studying Nevada’s licensed brothels. Brents, the co-author of The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland describes those brothels in a very practical and academic style. Brents says, “Sometimes I say I’m shedding light into a dark closet, a place nobody really knows what goes on inside. And then, when you shed the light, you find out that it’s not at all what you thought it was — it’s neither dangerous nor awful, nor is it as titillating.”
In a decade that will be surely known as one of grand feminist success it seems worthwhile mentioning that prostitution is a new feminist issue. According to “Women Have the Rights” many sex workers and feminist activists see the decriminalization of prostitution as a human rights initiative for women to regain control over their bodies. These third wave feminists find sex an issue that should be more widely discussed. Large leaps in pornography such as female filmmakers and feminist porn stars point to an ideal that consensual sex work is just another fore front in the battle for gender equality. Legalization of prostitution leads to more government oversight requiring
Though widely accepted throughout the course of human history, the approval of prostitution in today modern society seems to be a much more grey area. While once legal in every major civilization on earth, prostitution is now illegal in many countries, though sometimes tolerated for the revenue it generates. This cold shoulder toward prostitution began in the Middle Ages, when church officials began to preach of the sins associated with the profession. Their cries, however, fell on mostly deaf ears. Prostitution had become such a large contributor of public revenue in so many countries, that is was protected and regulated by law. In the centuries to come, however, things began to change. With the rise of stringent sexual morality standards associated with the Protestant Reformation, the increased transmission and awareness of sexually transmitted diseases and the implementation of such social movements as feminism, prostitution began to fall out of favor, eventually becoming illegal in many parts of the world. (Jenkins).
The first chapter of this book details what Raymond believes to be the most dangerous myths surrounding sex work, or prostitution as she refers to it. The first point she makes is that “Prostitution is Inevitable.” She claims that this is “the most senseless argument in defense of maintaining the system of prostitution” (Raymond, 2013, p. 2). Raymond backs her claim by explaining that this idea stems from the patriarchy from a time when women were objects. Raymond then continues on to berate the mindsets that say that sex work cannot or should not be banned because the safety of the worker has to be taken into consideration. She compares the “harm reduction” mentality to the same mentality that tobacco industry claimed to be using filtered cigarettes.
Prostitution is sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession,” with the first record of its practice dates back to Ancient Near East civilizations. Despite its age-old existence, not until relatively recently that researches and studies have been conducted in an attempt to obtain a better understanding of and more liberal perspective on a taboo widely perceived as too degrading and immoral to even talk about. When writing about commercial sex in her book “Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale,” Debra Satz challenges many of the bases on which society justifies its censure and outlawing of prostitution and its objectification and alienation of sex workers. She also criticizes the prohibition of prostitution, recognizes the core problems with sex selling, and suggests an alternative, possibly more effective, way in which prostitution should be addressed.
dreamed that they would be in love for the rest of their lives. She dreamed that her childhood dream of
The term sweatshop came from Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. According to Annie MacLean, the world’s first female sociologist, there were the workers who were “sweated” for their production of the goods; then, there were the employers, or “sweaters”, who profited directly off those goods (MacLean 1903). A sweatshop does not refer to an exact building/location or a certain demographic amongst the employees, but rather the environment in which employees must work. Shockingly low pay rates, filthy work atmospheres, and unconscionable working hours are the main conditions that characterize a sweatshop (Ross 2004). When Americans hear the word sweatshop, their heads go immediately to third world countries or places such
Sex Trafficking is a global phenomenon defined most often as the trade in women and children using force, fraud or coercion to cause a commercial sex act. Prostitution, pornography and sexual performance that is committed in exchange for money, drugs, shelter, food or clothes is defined as a commercial sex act. Sex Trafficking has a firm grip as a multi-million dollar production, recently skyrocketing with the modern era of technology that allows the business to become even more elusive and harder to track. We’ve all heard of the terminology, but how many of us actually know what sex trafficking entails? January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention
Human trafficking refers to the movement of persons across borders for forced labor, sexual exploitation or other illicit activities. Sex trafficking is the most lucrative sector of human trafficking America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia. The global political economy, political corruption, human rights, gender and ethnic stratification, and migration are all related to human trafficking.
It is clearly evident that the dominant state response to prostitution has been to seek its regulation and control rather than its elimination. A study of the international sex industry today, however, reveals that the ways of achieving such regulation differ markedly, both
The legal definition of prostitution has recently expanded in many Australian jurisdictions to encompass voyeuristic practices as well as non-monetary exchanges. Prostitution laws now make inclusions for massage parlours, phone sex and computer sex. Sullivan’s study into the politics of the sex industry in Australia since 1945, found that due to the shifts in sexual culture there have been discursive changes in society’s’ view of what constitutes as prostitution and what signifies as deviant sexual behaviour. Post war culture accentuated sexuality as the source of individual uniqueness, later progressing into the ideals of equality and mutuality between the sexes thus producing our sexual culture, as we know it today.
Portland’s street kids face many challenging issues today as the city becomes more diverse. Portland has the highest rate of heroin abuse and sex trafficking in the country. Because of the cheap price and availability of the drug, heroin attracts homeless people to Portland. Especially in the summer. 1/4 of the homeless are innocent children. Portland is also home to the most strip clubs per capita in the nation. Many victims of sex trafficking are youth that have run away from home. These problems are linked to limited resources by law enforcement and a shortage of shelters and services
Thesis – Multiple outlooks have been taken on the ethics of pornography, and the means by which it may either negatively influence power in sexuality, or actually provide some sort of social value and worth. These different ethical perspectives display the flaws in the industry and what it represents; yet they also end up proving the fact that it can be modified with positive influence and that pornography is not something to be deemed utterly unethical.
The sex industry is rather large in Hungary and the majority of prostitutes who are called “sex workers” willingly participate in their act. There are many reasons why they choose this “occupation”. With the recent economic downturn numerous people were left without a job, and they need to act to survive. Most of these people decide to work as a prostitute, because the poverty level is high, they don't have opportunities to train for new jobs or their educational level is low to reach another level or society. The absolute majority strongly believe that their activity is merely a source
Human Trafficking is something that goes around all over the world. In this essay I will discuss what human trafficking is, how it is done and give three countries who are mainly known for this kind of inhuman act. The three countries are countries that are vey much known and are known as Bangladesh, Brazil and Ghana. All three countries are known for tourism so human trafficking is expected to be in act, especially if its over populated and having different people from different countries coming in and out. Human Trafficking is not something that should be promoted or celebrated and should be put to a stop. It is not fair for people to be taken against their will from their families and friends. Men, women, and even kids are being taken, so a person should never just think they’re special if not caught they are blessed instead. Human trafficking is sickening and a disgrace to every nation and country possible.