A 13 year old student asked THE question "What is a prostitute?" to her Hindi teacher. The teacher was flabbergasted and asked the child to check with the Biology teacher. The Biology teacher mentioned this incident to my friend, who teacher in the same school, and asked her how one should respond. My friend recited this incident me. I asked my friend to help the Hindi teacher but she wouldn't, rather couldn't.
So I thought I will give it a shot.
There are many activities that happen between two people. Example: Marriage happens between 2 people and we call the people involved, spouses. Another example is employment. The people involved are employer and employee. Yet another example is sales of goods and services. In this case, we call the one who provides the services as the supplier or seller or vendor. The one who purchases is called the buyer or customer.
One of those services, mentioned above, is sex. The person who sells sex is called a prostitute. The buyer of sex has no special name while the person who facilitates the sale, who brokers the transaction, is called a pimp.
Financial perspective:
In many cultures and countries, sex is considered sacred and hence a blatant sale of the same is taboo. Prostitution is the act engaged in by a prostitute. A sexual act is termed as prostitution and the provider termed as a prostitute only when there is explicit payment of money involved and when the buyer and seller aren't spouses. In a sexual act between spouses there is no such transfer of money immediately following an act or prior to the act purporting to be payment for services rendered. Hence such act between spouses is not prostitution. Even sex between friends is usually a social activity with no direct payment involved. Only when sex becomes a commercial activity does the act become one of prostitution.
Social perspective:
In many conservatives cultures, a prostitute is held in poor esteem. That is because sex is considered sacred and its sale is forbidden. Now people can become a prostitute because of these reasons:
Moral perspective:
If you ask your parents or your teachers, you are likely to get a reply that prostitution is repugnant and is to be avoided - visiting one or becoming one. In many countries the act is illegal and one could be fined or jailed for engaging in it. Sex with many people or unprotected sex with unknown people is medically dangerous and is to be avoided. Beyond the medical and legal issues, it may bring about a moral dilemma. Whether it's just another business transaction or is it inherently repugnant? Children born out of heterosexual prostitution usually will lack a biological father in their life - no matter whether a prostitute is male or female, only the female bears the child. These are some of the things one has to remember while contemplating prostitution.
Which gender is a prostitute?
Usually sex is sought by males more than by females in most species including humans. As a result of this demand an opportunity that seeks to address this demand is created. In majority of the cases, the supplier of sex, the prostitute is female because (A). Majority of sex is heterosexual. (B). The customer is mostly male.
Exceptions are presented below:
Type of sex. Gender of prostitute
Gay Male
Lesbian Female
Heterosexual with female customer Male
In the movies:
The role of a prostitute (usually female) has been portrayed in movies often. Two movies come to mind which show an outstanding character of a female prostitute: Amar Prem (Hindi), Pretty Woman (English).
Finally: Which part of this blog's content was inappropriate for a 13 year old or embarrassing for a female teacher to explain to students of that age? Why did the teachers get paralyzed by the question? Of course when a mischievous student asks what sex is one can THEN direct that question to the biology teacher.
Much of the issue comes from our belief: that sex is taboo. And that one should always deny knowledge of the subject and also deny experience in the act. As Aamir Khan asks Boman Irani in the movie PK, how is it that we are so embarrassed to admit publicly to owning a condom while at the same time we happily inform the whole world of our marriage (and the ensuing first night, honeymoon etc)?
So I thought I will give it a shot.
There are many activities that happen between two people. Example: Marriage happens between 2 people and we call the people involved, spouses. Another example is employment. The people involved are employer and employee. Yet another example is sales of goods and services. In this case, we call the one who provides the services as the supplier or seller or vendor. The one who purchases is called the buyer or customer.
One of those services, mentioned above, is sex. The person who sells sex is called a prostitute. The buyer of sex has no special name while the person who facilitates the sale, who brokers the transaction, is called a pimp.
Financial perspective:
In many cultures and countries, sex is considered sacred and hence a blatant sale of the same is taboo. Prostitution is the act engaged in by a prostitute. A sexual act is termed as prostitution and the provider termed as a prostitute only when there is explicit payment of money involved and when the buyer and seller aren't spouses. In a sexual act between spouses there is no such transfer of money immediately following an act or prior to the act purporting to be payment for services rendered. Hence such act between spouses is not prostitution. Even sex between friends is usually a social activity with no direct payment involved. Only when sex becomes a commercial activity does the act become one of prostitution.
Social perspective:
In many conservatives cultures, a prostitute is held in poor esteem. That is because sex is considered sacred and its sale is forbidden. Now people can become a prostitute because of these reasons:
- Poverty leads a person to become a prostitute. Prostitution is termed as the oldest industry - meaning it's almost as ancient as mankind. There isn't much technical skill requires except the ability to provide sex to a customer. Here an easy way to escape poverty is by becoming a prostitute. Of course, one usually becomes a social outcaste then. In addition are medical problems like AIDS that a prostitute is likely to contract.
- This too is money related but it's distinctly different from poverty. In this case, people engage in i.e., sell sex because there is a huge demand for special / "high class sex" - for example for sex with exceedingly good looking girls. In these cases, a person becomes a prostitute not because of poverty but in order to enhance their income.
- A third could be blackmail - "Unless you become a prostitute, i will..."
And so on.
If you ask your parents or your teachers, you are likely to get a reply that prostitution is repugnant and is to be avoided - visiting one or becoming one. In many countries the act is illegal and one could be fined or jailed for engaging in it. Sex with many people or unprotected sex with unknown people is medically dangerous and is to be avoided. Beyond the medical and legal issues, it may bring about a moral dilemma. Whether it's just another business transaction or is it inherently repugnant? Children born out of heterosexual prostitution usually will lack a biological father in their life - no matter whether a prostitute is male or female, only the female bears the child. These are some of the things one has to remember while contemplating prostitution.
Which gender is a prostitute?
Usually sex is sought by males more than by females in most species including humans. As a result of this demand an opportunity that seeks to address this demand is created. In majority of the cases, the supplier of sex, the prostitute is female because (A). Majority of sex is heterosexual. (B). The customer is mostly male.
Exceptions are presented below:
Type of sex. Gender of prostitute
Gay Male
Lesbian Female
Heterosexual with female customer Male
In the movies:
The role of a prostitute (usually female) has been portrayed in movies often. Two movies come to mind which show an outstanding character of a female prostitute: Amar Prem (Hindi), Pretty Woman (English).
Finally: Which part of this blog's content was inappropriate for a 13 year old or embarrassing for a female teacher to explain to students of that age? Why did the teachers get paralyzed by the question? Of course when a mischievous student asks what sex is one can THEN direct that question to the biology teacher.
But prostitution is not synonymous with sex and this subject can be explained by anyone - not necessarily by a Biology teacher.
Much of the issue comes from our belief: that sex is taboo. And that one should always deny knowledge of the subject and also deny experience in the act. As Aamir Khan asks Boman Irani in the movie PK, how is it that we are so embarrassed to admit publicly to owning a condom while at the same time we happily inform the whole world of our marriage (and the ensuing first night, honeymoon etc)?
Anything that one demands and buys is backed by desire and an ability to pay for it. Desires runs in both genders, but the ability to pay is male dominant still by majority.Apart from this women treat sex as more sacred than men and hence reluctant to buy sex. The main reason for men to be main buyers are their approach to sex as basic need and ability to pay for it.
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