Human Rights and Prostitution: A discussion
Human Rights and Prostitution - a DiscussionIn this essay, I will argue that a person has a right to sell his or her body for sex and that this right is violated by societies in which prostitution is illegal. I will first present what seems to be a powerful case against the legalisation of prostitution and then attempt to show that it rests on false assumptions. As the majority of prostitutes are female and, as any discussion of male and child prostitution necessarily involves the extraneous issues of the rights of homosexuals and children, my focus will be on adult heterosexual intercourse between a female prostitute and a male client.A major case against prostitution can be based on the assertion that the industry violates more human rights than it asserts - specifically, that prostitution should continue to be abhorred and illegal as it contravenes the sexual and economic rights of persons, particularly women. According to this argument, prostitution is sexual slavery as, by selling their bodies for sex, prostitutes give up all power over their bodies to their clientele, who temporarily 'own' them. Thus, the industry degrades its workers to the level of sex object; this is inhumane and violates the right of
As Norma Jean Almodovar explains, "there have been numerous examples of how law enforcement officials have used laws as a form of extortion. The major problem with this approach to prostitution is that a large proportion of street sex workers suffer violence at the hands of their clientele: it is hard to see how a woman can celebrate her sexuality when she is being raped. htmUnknown, Is Prostitution Work or a Human Rights Violation? URL=http://www. This issue of payment is morally irrelevant: although the abov!e argument against prostitution asserted that sex workers were sexual slaves bought by their clientele, it misses the point that people choose to sell their bodies for sex, that prostitutes have a right to turn clients away, and that some prostitutes enjoy their work and find it liberating (one might just as well assert that a prostitute's clients are slaves to their sexuality, which is manipulated by the dominating sex worker for his or her own gain). Rather than seeing prostitution as a degrading form of sexual exploitation of women, one might view it as a form of female emancipation. According to this view, female prostitutes are not passive sexual objects bought by domineering men to satisfy their lusts; instead, they are skilful manipulators of male desires and their trade represents women's sexual power over men, rather than their subjugation to male wants. By exploiting women as sex objects, heterosexual prostitution involving male clients reinforces traditional paternalistic prejudices about the status of females; it can thus be seen to be a remnant of societies' chauvinistic past and, so, as a way-of-life to be rejected by enlightened feminists of the present. all people to be treated as sexual equals. found that 80% had been physically assaulted" . As the Prostitution in The United States factsheet points out, "substance addiction.
Common topics in this essay:
Prostitution United,
Prostitution Discussion,
Legalizing Prostitution,
Trafficking Women,
Wendy Chapkis,
Jean Almodovar,
sex workers,
human rights,
Kenneth Cauthen,
argument prostitution,
prostitution united,
Prostitution Theory,
prostitution illegal,
Human Rights,
Unknown Prostitution,
bodies sex prostitutes,
social situations,
low self-esteem,
situations prostitutes,
decriminalise prostitution,
female prostitute,
factsheet prostitution united,
human rights violation,
believe argument prostitution,
social situations prostitutes,
|
Acceptance Essays
