"Race, Class, Gender, and Deviancy: The Criminalization of Prostitution"

Abstract

A. Prostitution as "Sex" versus Prostitution as "Work"From the point of view of the prostitute, prostitution might be analyzed more usefully under the rubric of work rather than sex.That is, the exchange of money makes what she' does illegal, and the exchange of money is why she does it.However, from the point of view of her customers, prostitution is usually about sex.More importantly, the public and the legislatures view prostitution as being primarily about sex-sex outside the confines of marriage, deviant sex, sex without the intent to reproduce, paid sex.This point of view has been dominant in shaping the legal response to prostitution-that is, its criminalization-and so I focus on this viewpoint here. 2 B. Modern Demographics of ProstitutionThe stereotypical image of the streetwalker does not adequately represent the business of prostitution or its practitioners.While the most familiar and attention-getting form of prostitution is street prostitution, best estimates indicate that only ten to twenty percent of prostitutes solicit on the streets. 3 The remaining eighty to ninety percent work off the streets, in I am aware that prostitution is not an enterprise reserved solely to women, and that there are significant numbers of male prostitutes.However, in this paper I focus exclusively on female prostitution, because I believe the social significance of male prostitution may be completely separate and independent from that of female prostitution, despite material and commercial similarities between both practices.2 This is not to say that there has been no concern about prostitution as a financial enterprise, that is, about prostitution as "work."Indeed, as I discuss below, some part of the public outcry over prostitution in the nineteenth century was motivated by broader concerns about women's activity in the public sphere.Moreover, it is often hard to separate objections to prostitution into those focusing on sexual aspects and those focusing on commercial aspects, since prostitution is, by definition, sex for a fee.Nonetheless, to the extent that such a distinction can be made, I believe that preoccupations with sexuality have predominated in shaping American social and legal policy toward prostitution.