Portal:Prostitution
Introduction
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker, putana, or whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work as prostitutes.
Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country), ranging from being an enforced or unenforced crime, to unregulated, to a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (in-call). Another form is street prostitution.
According to a 2011 report by Fondation Scelles there are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion. (Full article...)
Selected article
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/60000girls.png/150px-60000girls.png)
Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions, and is commonly associated with organized crime.
It has been estimated that two-thirds of trafficking victims in the United States are US citizens. Most victims who are foreign-born come into the US legally, on various visas. State Department estimated that between 15,000 and 50,000 women and girls are trafficked each year into the United States. The measures against trafficking of women focus on harsher criminal legislation and punishments, and improving international police cooperation. There are vast media campaigns which are designed to be informative to the public, as well as policy makers and potential victims. (read more...)
Selected biography
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Milgarth_Police_Station%2C_Leeds.jpg/200px-Milgarth_Police_Station%2C_Leeds.jpg)
Peter William Coonan (born Peter William Sutcliffe; 2 June 1946) is an English serial killer who was dubbed the "Yorkshire Ripper" by the press. In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others.
Sutcliffe initially attacked women and girls in residential areas but seems to have moved to red light districts because he was attracted by the vulnerability of prostitutes. Sutcliffe had allegedly regularly used the services of prostitutes in Leeds and Bradford. When interviewed by authorities, he claimed that the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. Sutcliffe carried out murders over five years, during which time some members of the public were especially shocked by the murders of women who were not prostitutes. (read more...)
Did you know?
![The Dumas Brothel in September 2000](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Dumas_Brothel%2C_Butte%2C_Montana.jpg/100px-Dumas_Brothel%2C_Butte%2C_Montana.jpg)
- ... that the Dumas Brothel (pictured), believed to be haunted, was the longest-operating brothel in the United States?
- ... that Gloucester, Massachusetts Mayor John S. Parsons led raids on the city's brothels while the City Marshal was otherwise engaged?
- ... that Dhalia won her Citra Award for Best Leading Actress for playing a prostitute despite having been sent to Islamic schools since youth?
- ... that Shackles was the first Indonesian novel to portray a prostitute sympathetically?
Quotes
“ | Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. | ” |
Anniversaries - July
- 3rd
- 1888: Death of Mattie Blaylock, prostitute and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp.
- 8th
- 1845: Birth of Al Swearengen, an American pimp and entertainment entrepreneur who ran the Gem Theater, a notorious brothel, in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the late 19th century.
- 13th
- 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a federal ban on prostitution near naval and army bases
- 16th
- 1788: Execution of Elisabeth Gassner, an infamous German pickpocket, thief and prostitute, known as Schwarze Lies (Black Lisa).
- 25th
- 29th
- 1910: Death of Valtesse de La Bigne, French courtesan and demi-mondaine.
Selected image
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Red_light_district_known_as_Klondike_City%2C_across_the_Klondike_River_from_Dawson%2C_Yukon%2C_circa_1898_%28AL%2BCA_524%29.jpg/300px-Red_light_district_known_as_Klondike_City%2C_across_the_Klondike_River_from_Dawson%2C_Yukon%2C_circa_1898_%28AL%2BCA_524%29.jpg)
Red-light district known as Klondike City, across the Klondike River from Dawson City, Yukon, circa 1898.
Legality Map
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Prostitution_in_Europe.svg/300px-Prostitution_in_Europe.svg.png)
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Recognised content
Featured (13)
Good (18)
- Mah Laqa Bai
- Butters' Bottom Bitch
- Child prostitution
- Elizabeth Cresswell
- Casey Donovan
- Dumas Brothel
- Andrea Dworkin
- Natasha Falle
- Kanhopatra
- Caroline Lacroix
- Ipswich serial murders
- National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
- Neaira (hetaera)
- Salon Kitty
- She Has a Name
- Soho
- Valerie Solanas
- Three Sisters Tavern
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