Thread by @Wizarab10

REVISITING PROSTITUTION IN A JUDGEMENTAL SOCIETY

Living in Ikeja made me familiar with the sight of prostitutes lining up the streets of Allen roundabouts - arguably Lagos hottest pick up spot for paid sex.

https://twitter.com/Wizarab10/status/1393176689413345286

Personally, I have no problem with prostitutes. It is not the easiest of decisions. Like they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. As a matter of fact, I feel it should be legalized so that victims of abuse and rape among them can be protected. Moreover, they can be taxed.

For many and especially those of conservative religious belief, view prostitution as immoral because it involves sex for money and they consider it a sign of society's moral decay.

For this reason, they believe prostitution should remain illegal and even recommend stricter enforcement of laws against prostitution.

It goes without saying that prostitution today is widely spread. It can be found practically in every country.

In most countries of the developing world, prostitution is the result of poverty, unemployment, lack of control. In some countries prostitution is legal and regulated by the law, while in other countries prostitution is illegal and is not regulated.

For example in China, the spread of prostitution is connected with such factors as economic problems, increased organized crime rate, and government corruption. In the majority of African countries prostitution is caused by poverty and social breakdown, and it is illegal.

Sex tourism is widely spread in such countries as Egypt, Morocco, Uganda, etc. In Asia, child prostitution is widely spread, but it is illegal. However, in practice, prostitution is regulated. For example, in Thailand.

The most common system which legalizes prostitution is in the European Union. In Netherlands, United Kingdom and France, prostitution is legal and regulated by the government. In the USA, the state of Nevada is the only state that allows prostitution in some of its counties.

In addition, it is found that “throughout the world, efforts have been made to suppress, control, organize or discourage prostitution, with varying degrees of success

Our society is too judgemental. People won't help you but they are full of advice when all you need is bread.

You don't advise a hungry child not to steal, you feed him. Under Maslow's hierarchy of needs, at the bottom of the pyramid, we have the basic which is Physiological Needs which entails breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion.

Next on the pyramid is Safety which entails security of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health and property.

Those who venture into prostitution do not have the luxury of these basic necessity of life nor do they dare to dream in a society that constantly turns it back on her on the tide of untrustworthy government.

In the words of Senator Barack Obama (as he then was) speaking at the University of Nairobi in 2006, "In the end, if the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare....

... all else is lost and that is why the struggle against corruption is one of the great struggles of our time."

Our society is too judgemental rather than sympathetic despite prostitution taking place at various levels in many subtle forms.

Nobody grew up hoping to become a sex pot. Those who life smiled on deem it fit to act as moral compass over the lives of prostitutes as though prostitution is a new variety of sin. Society, Culture, Relegion all advote for abstinence until marriage but everyone is having sex.

Yet only those who get paid for it are vilified. Society and government must address those root problems and above all treat prostitutes as human beings with the same rights as anyone else, not as social pariahs unworthy of our care and attention.

Street walkers also known as street prostitutes are at the receiving end of these stigma but we ignore the fact that they are rational human beings making choices, selecting from an extremely limited range of options and alternatives of unpleasantness.

Funny that many fail to realise is that they make up only one-fifth of all prostitutes. Yet when prostitution is mentioned, everyone cocks their ears and focus their gaze in their direction.

Prostitution in all it many definitions simply means exchanging sex for money or gains.

The most important thing in the definition is the payment. This means that, once sex is exchanged as commodity, it is prostitution. Since we know that, let us check out other categories of people who do the same thing but like Mandela get the long walk to freedom.

Call Girls - work as independent operators in their homes or fairly fancy hotels and charge a lot of money for their services, which include sex but also talking and dining. Their clients are typically businessmen or other wealthy individuals.

In the US, many call girls earn between $200 and $500 per hour, and some earn between $1,000 and $6,000 per hour or per session.

Escorts - work for escort agencies, which often advertise heavily in phone books and on the Internet.

They may operate out of an apartment rented by their agency or come to a client’s hotel room or other location. Although they may actually act as an escort to a dinner or show, typically their services include sexual acts.

They are generally well paid for their work, but do not earn nearly as much as call girls because they have to give at least 30% of their earnings to the agency.

Brothels workers - These are prostitutes who work in brothels. Workers in these brothels pay income tax.

Because their employers require regular health exams and condom use, the risk of sexually transmitted disease in Nevada’s brothels is low.

In Nigeria, please double the condom. You might as well dip your penis in Yoruba stew if you can go raw with brothel workers.

Massage parlor workers - Many massage parlors, of course, involve no prostitution at all, and are entirely legal. However, some massage parlors are in fact fronts for prostitution, where the prostitute masturbates a man and brings him to what is often termed a “happy ending.”

Bar or Casino workers also exist for this purpose. They make contact with a customer in these settings and have sex with them elsewhere.

Many of the problems associated with ‘prostitution’ are actually concentrated in street prostitution & much less evident in the indoor sector.

In particular, many streetwalkers are exploited or abused by pimps, use heroin or other drugs, and are raped, robbed, and/or beaten by their clients. A good number of streetwalkers also began their prostitution careers as runaway teenagers and were abused as children.

There is a category that nobody talks about. Ironically, these form a large part of the judgemental lots. They are the privileged prostitutes whose only claim to prostitution is taking advantage of their sexuality for easy pay day. They decry to be labelled as prostitutes.

* the student who offers her body for good grades/available bidder
*the worker who offers her body for promotion
*the ladies who date guys with money and end every sex with cash demand or expectation of payment.
*the ladies who have sugar daddies

* ladies on dating site who are strictly there for hookups or "mature minds only"
* ladies on social media who saturate the platform with thirst traps hoping for a good pay day from an anonymous transactional bidder

I am sure you can list many examples.

I call this category the corporate prostitutes only because it appears normal and nobody bashes them. These are even bold and open about their lifestyle and appears to be the highest beneficiaries in the sex pool but can't publicly say what they do.

These are those with the view that if they must sell their body then they must sell it big. Fact says if you're getting paid, you a hoe!

I'm not here to shame anyone or make anyone feel less of themselves. On the contrary, I'm here for the judgemental lots who do the same thing.

Nobody should demean another human who took on the indignity of standing by the way side to make a living for her myself and those she is responsible for while you do same covertly on higher level or belong to the category of those who expect pay for sex in intimate relationship

Remove the log in your eyes. If you must shame sex workers, please do to all and not just to those on the street. The shit is the same, it is the toilet that is different.

Interestingly, there are various schools of thoughts addressing prostitution.

Functionalist theorists believe that prostitution exists because it serves several important functions for society generally and for certain people in society. As we have already mentioned, it provides a source of income for many women who otherwise might be jobless.

Beyond that, it provides a sexual alternative for men with:
1 - the desire to have sex with someone with a certain physical appearance (age, race, body type).
2 - the lack of a sexual partner or dissatisfaction with a sexual partner, including a desire

.... to have unconventional sex that the partner does not share.
3- the thrill of having sex with a prostitute
4 - the desire to have sex without having to make an emotional commitment.

According to Conflict Theorist, prostitution reflects the economic inequality in society. Many poor women feel compelled to become prostitutes because of their lack of money.

Because wealthier women have many other sources of income, the idea of becoming a prostitute is something they never have to consider. Sad but interesting historical support for this view comes from an increase in prostitution in the second half of the 19th century.

Many women lost husbands & boyfriends in the war & were left penniless. Lacking formal education and living in a society that at the time offered few job opportunities to women, many of these bereaved women were forced to turn to prostitution to feed their families & themselves.

Feminists conflict theory holds that prostitution results not only from women’s poverty but also from society’s patriarchal culture that still views men as the dominant figure in heterosexual relationships and that still treats women as “sex objects” who exist for men’s pleasure.

In such a culture, it is no surprise and even inevitable that men will want to pay for sex with a woman and that women will be willing to be paid for sex.

In this feminist view, the oppression and exploitation that prostitution inherently involves reflects the more general oppression and exploitation of women in the larger society.

This is confusing as Feminists now urge women to prostitutes under the guise of empowerment.

Why are we so castigating of sex workers (I mean the street prostitutes) when they engage in consensual sex only because they are paid? Why mock them because they are cheap At? At least, they are honest about their profession and they don't shy away from being called prostitutes.

It is also ridiculous that we castigate the prostitutes but we don't do same to their customers. If my economics is right, an increase in demand will always lead to an increase in supply. As long as men exist, sex will sell. If you ask me, better rapist pay for sex than rape.

Maybe if prostitution is legalized like it is in Europe, our judgemental lots won't have to hide when prostituting at corporate levels only to come on social media to drop motivational speeches and fervent scripture. Please be true to yourself - you have only one heart!

Rather than judge, make effort at saving lives. The street prostitutes are the worst drench of the harsh elements of life. Research suggests that, under the right conditions, legal prostitution can be organized in a way that increases workers’ health, safety, & job satisfaction.

Mandatory condom use and other safe-sex practices are typical in legal brothels, and the workers face much lower risk of abuse from customers.

According to Melissa Farley, solutions to prostitution must be rooted in the understanding that prostitution is violence against women and girls. It is clear that this fact must be understood by any member of human society.

Moreover, it must be included in the public policy and implemented in public healthcare, mental health services centers, homeless shelters, etc. It is very important to understand that prostitution is a crime against humanity.

Melissa Farley states that public ignorance about prostitution and deliberate misinformation can create obstacles for those women who are involved in prostitution, as “they are blamed to remain in violent relationships” .

She suggests that prostitution as a serious social problem must be solved by all members of our society, including government, citizens, organizations, etc. Such types of prostitution as “pornography, strip clubs, massage parlors, saunas, escort services, live sex shows...

... peep shows, trafficking, phone sex, ritual abuse, mail order bride services, prostitution tourism, and street prostitution” should be controlled by the law.

Moreover, it would be better to develop special programs for prostituted girls and women, which will be used to address the multiple problems and needs of women involved in this occupation, including housing problems, psychotherapy assistance, physical healthcare problems...

... education, job training and placement, help with food, clothing, disabilities, and treatment for alcohol/drug abuse. Melissa Farley states that these programs need to be culturally sensitive to language, race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation and nationality.

In closing, note that while men are the biggest consumers of trafficked and prostituted women and children, men do not respect prostitutes, but use them for entertainment, sexual gratification, acts of violence, and to them to meet their emotional needs, not their physical needs.

In order to reduce victims of prostitution, and encounter the exploitation of women, all the components of the demand need to be punished - the men who purchase sex from victims of illegal sex trade practices, the exploiters, traffickers, and pimps.

We also need to address the culture that lies about the nature of prostitution because sex will sell as long as there are men willing to pay. There is no gainsaying that sexuality is a woman's biggest agency.

Lastly, to every woman who is sexually abused - domestic, professional and corporate, we do not see you but we know you exist. I hope the world deals you better hands. Stay strong. You won't have to walk alone.

Love, Peace and Spaghetti ✌

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