Portal:Prostitution

Introduction

Femmes de Maison, painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1893–1895

Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves 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 also described as gender-based violence. 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 and whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work in prostitution. The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients.

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). In most cases, it can be either an enforced crime, an unenforced crime, a decriminalized activity, a legal but unregulated activity, or 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

Portsmouth Square, looking north to Telegraph Hill, 1851.

The Barbary Coast was a red-light district during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries in San Francisco which featured dance halls, concert saloons, bars, jazz clubs, variety shows, and brothels. Its nine block area was centered on a three block stretch of Pacific Street, now Pacific Avenue, between Montgomery and Stockton Streets. Pacific Street was the first street to cut through the hills of San Francisco, starting near Portsmouth Square and continuing east to the first shipping docks at Buena Vista Cove.

The Barbary Coast was born during the California Gold Rush of 1849, when the population of San Francisco was growing at an exponential rate due to the rapid influx of tens of thousands of miners trying to find gold. (read more...)

Selected biography

Catherine "Kate" Eddowes (14 April 1842 – 30 September 1888) was one of the victims in the Whitechapel murders. She was the second person killed in the early hours of Sunday 30 September 1888, a night which already had seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride less than an hour earlier. These two murders are commonly referred to as the "double event" and have been attributed to an unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Eddowes, also known as "Kate Conway" and "Kate Kelly" after her two successive common-law husbands, was born in Graisley Green, Wolverhampton on 14 April 1842. Her parents, tinplate worker George Eddowes and his wife Catherine (née Evans), had 11 other children. The family moved to London a year after her birth, but she later returned to Wolverhampton to work as a tinplate stamper. (read more...)

Did you know?

... that between 1778 and 1801, Manor House, 21 Soho Square, London, (pictured) was a high-class magic brothel called The White House, described by Henry Mayhew as a "notorious place of ill-fame"?
... that the Admiral Apartments, built in 1909, had "sporting girls" (prostitutes) operating out of it by 1913?
... that at the town next to the Brazilian gold mine Serra Pelada, thousands of underage girls prostituted themselves for gold flakes while around 60–80 unsolved murders were registered every month?
... that the area around La Merced Market, Mexico City, is considered to be a "tolerance zone" for prostitution?

Quotes

“

A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.

”

Muhammad Bukhari 4:538

Anniversaries - February

6th
- 1986: Murder of Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, an Australian prostitute and heroin addict who became a writer and whistleblower.
7th
- 2018: Death of Laura Lee, an Irish born prostitute and activist who initiated a judicial review against Northern Irelands Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.
9th
- 1982: Death of Marthe Richard, a French prostitute and spy. She later became a politician and worked towards the closing of brothels in France in 1946.
12th
- 2009: Death of Domenica Niehoff, a German prostitute and activist. She appeared in television shows in the 1990s, where she campaigned for legalization of and regulation of the profession.
25th
- 1992: Birth of Zahia Dehar, a French-Algerian fashion and lingerie designer who was once known for her role in an underage prostitution scandal involving Franck Ribéry and Karim Benzema.
27th
- 1914: Birth of Dulcie Markham, a prominent Sydney prostitute, brothel-keeper and associate of gangland figures in Sydney during the 1930s, 1940's and 1950s, when she was closely involved with the razor gang milieu of that era.
28th
- 1608: Execution of Margaret Fernseed, an English prostitute and brothel keeper who had murdered her husband.

Selected image

Sex workers demonstrating for better working conditions at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City.

Legality Map

Legality of prostitution worldwide

a map on the legality of prostitution in the world

Decriminalization – no criminal penalties for prostitution

Legalization – prostitution legal and regulated

Abolitionism – prostitution is legal, but organized activities such as brothels and pimping are illegal; prostitution is not regulated

Neo-abolitionism – illegal to buy sex and for 3rd party involvement, legal to sell sex

Prohibitionism – prostitution illegal

Legality varies with local laws

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Prostitution

Prostitution by continent

Prostitution by country

Female prostitution

Male prostitution

Prostitutes

Works about prostitution

Anti-prostitution activism

Brothels

Feminism and prostitution

Forced prostitution

History of prostitution

Prostitution law

Magdalene asylums

Pimps

Red-light districts

Sacred prostitution

Sex workers' rights

Violence against sex workers

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