[PROSTITUTION; FEMINIST AND FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE]

[By: Rachel Ste.Croix]

Due: March 14, 2014 For: Alison Boyes

Prostitution can be viewed various ways; to some people it is viewed as a sin, to others it can be viewed as a choice of self-employment. Though there are various ways to view prostitution, this paper will be focusing on the functionalistic view as well as the feminist perspective of prostitution. Functionalist perspective is defined as a sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability and the feminist perspective is defined as comprised of many perspectives, this approach focuses upon the differential treatment of women and men, alongside other forms of inequality. (Hermiston & Witt,16). Therefore, both the feminist perspective and the functionalist perspective will intertwine certain views; this will be further shown in this essay. Prostitution is defined as the selling of sexual services. (Schmitz, 2012). Prostitution can be seen as serving purpose in many ways; these can include (but are not specific to), sexual release, employment and challenging traditionalism. When considering prostitution through a feminist perspective it could be considered degrading all women, or contrarily by providing women with power and selfconfidence. In comparison to the feminist perspective, a functionalist might see prostitution as a deviance; necessary to reaffirm a social norm or values (Hermiston & Witt,128). It is estimated that approximately 70, 000 acts of prostitution occur yearly in the US; this averages to about 700 client interactions per year for a prostitute (Schmitz, 2012). Schmitz then states that almost 63,000 arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice occurred in the year of 2010. Though these numbers are officially from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, it must be acknowledged that there are many more acts of prostitution not being registered and the numbers cannot be accepted as exact. Though prostitution is only legal in certain areas, it is in the midst of legalization in other locations; this is due to the fact that prostitution that is regulated can be safer for the prostitutes as well as the clientele. Schmitz states that laws against
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prostitution do more harm than good and that views towards morality of prostitution should not have an effect on whether or not prostitutes should be provided with a safe location and environment for their work. Though some types of prostitutes (such as call girls or escorts, who make up 80% of prostitutes) work indoors and in a safe environment, certain girls do not have the same luck; streetwalkers tend to do their work in an unsafe environment; such as cars, alleys or motels (Schmitz,2012). Generally speaking, feminists only view the 20% of prostitutes that are called streetwalkers or are also considered the poor and abused prostitutes, and rarely consider call girls or escorts (the other 80%) in their debates (Bromberg, 1997). According to the radical feminist view, men are socialized to have sexual desires and to feel entitled to have those desires met, whereas women are socialized to meet those desires and to internalize accepted definitions of femininity and sexual objectification. (Bromberg, 1997). The quote above demonstrates that the prostitutes were only viewed as a way to meet the desires of men. Bromberg categorized prostitutes into 8 different categories, the first four were considered high risk, with large amounts of abuse in their lives, whereas the other 4 chose to be prostitutes and for the most part were intelligent and careful with their work. The quote only proves the case for the first four categorizes or 20 percent of prostitution that Bromberg discussed; the other four did not become prostitutes to meet the desires of men, but for other reasoning. The first four types of prostitutes were viewed as more abused, and less intelligent women; they allow the abuse to continue and work in unsafe environments. Therefore, feminist who only speculate the twenty percent, or first four categories often view prostitutes as

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degrading and often argue that prostitution will not allow the advance in women being equal in the world. As mentioned in Tom Peacocks work not all feminists are opposed to prostitution (2014). Contrary to the above, certain feminists speculate all prostitutes and view prostitution as empowerment to women and a success for women. There are various benefits to prostitution if it is carried through in a safe location and a healthy attitude towards it. Many females choose to become prostitutes due to not having a lot of money; these women often become prostitutes to raise money for a career in a different field, it is a lot easier due to the flexible hours and often good pay for the ladies (Bell, 2009). In addition to the good pay and flexible hours, Bell argues that some feminists look at prostitutes as sexual therapists who quench sexual desire or needs in which are unattainable elsewhere for particular men. Furthermore, a prostitute may not have qualifications for another well-paying job, and may find it the only option to go into this field. Lastly, a women might just enjoy performing sexual acts and want to pursue a career with them. Similarly, functionalists view the needs and benefits towards prostitution as well. As mentioned before by Hermiston & Witt, functionalist perspective is defined as a sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability(Pg. 16). Prostitution can be seen as a way to keep society in the natural balance of things. For example, prostitution is considered a deviance or a violation of social norms. Prostitution goes against social norms because it is not seen as moral to most people, the selling of ones body for sexual activities are not viewed as proper or a high-minded occupation. In addition to this, functionalists may even consider prostitution as going against a formal norm defined as a norm that generally has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators (Hermiston & Witt, 54). Society has set rules against prostitution that strictly prohibits
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the act of exchange of money for sexual favours, therefore, clearly making prostitution a violation of the formal norms, or in other words; an act of deviance. With that being said, functionalists see the necessity of prostitution, by keeping the natural flow of society. It provides prostitutes a source of income, and it provides a sexual alternative for men who lack a sexual partner or are dissatisfied with their current sexual partner (Schmitz, 2012). Schmitz then mentions that if prostitution was legal, it would lower divorce rate, this is due to the fact that prostitution is generally impersonal and the men will not fall in love with a prostitute. In a relationship, men often get bored or are unsatisfied and tend to engage in an affair; this will end the relationship due to falling in love with a different women. Thus functionalism sees prostitution as not only a way for people to become economically stable but also a way to keep relationships stable, if thats how people view it. Therefore, when comparing functionalist perspectives as well as feminists perspectives, readers can see the similarities between the two perspectives, along with the differences. Both feminists and functionalists see the benefits to prostitution, such as, income and fulfilling sexual desires. Though some feminists see it as degrading women and a problem to society as a whole, others can relate to the functionalist view of the women using her body to economically gain as well as enjoying herself and gaining in other aspects of life. In conclusion, though each piece of society has their own perspective on prostitution, some of their thoughts intertwine with one another. Making it show that even if society seems like its not connected, at times, it is. Whether a person considers prostitution a sin (like some feminists), a way to feel powerful and intelligent (like other feminists), or simply another reason

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the world goes round (like functionalists); prostitution will always have different views towards it.

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References Rachel Ste.Croix

Bell, K. (2009). A Feminist's Argument On How Sex Work Can Benefit Women. RSS. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/28/a-feministsargument-on-how-sex-work-can-benefit-women Bromberg, S. (1997). Feminist Issues in Prostitution. Feminist Issues in Prostitution. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.feministissues.com/ Witt, Jon, and Alana J. Hermiston. Soc: a matter of prespective. Second Canadian ed. N/A: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2013. Print. Peacock, T. (2014, January 6). Prostitution: a feminist perspective.Prostitution: a feminist perspective. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2014/01/06/prostitutionthefeministperspective.html Schmitz, A. (2012). Prostitution. Prostitution. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-social-problems/s12-04prostitution.html

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