Prostitution as a Social Evil - Essay Example

Others engage in this social evil because they want to overcome some sense of rejection they may have gone through. Prostitution has been used as a means of economic gain by some people while others have engaged in it as a means to their pleasure. Some countries have allowed the commercialization of sex, and they tax women who practice it. However, prostitution has faced a lot of criticism from many other people.

Many people have indulged in some other evils to avert the criticism and stigmatization they have faced as prostitutes. Some of the prostitutes have resorted to drug abuse, which poses a serious health concern. The role of mentors in shaping the behavior of these women is questioned when they indulge in prostitution. In many cases, women have resorted to prostitution as a result of constraints they have gotten in obtaining their based needs. When they are not supported at the family level, these women tend to look for alternative sources of their needs’ satisfiers.

Men assume the provider role to provide for the women. Mostly, this role is associated with entitlement to sexual rights (Jewkes et al. 8). Women who get the provisions from these men feel that the best way to reciprocate the favors they receive is by giving sexual favors. Culture has shaped the mind of people so that they view the only way to respond to male provision as a woman as through sex. Culture has promoted the prostitution business for it has tagged a high value for exposure to sex. Many women that engaged in prostitution have said that they were victims of child sexual abuse.

The urge that is in men for sex has driven women to be victims of this sexual business (Murphy 778). Prostitution has existed because of cultural factors that define gender relations. These relations have indicated unequal treatment to both men and women. According to International Labour Organization (12), women in Thailand preferred prostitution as a way to protect good women from rape. They saw that this acts as a means to avert men’s sexual power. According to a study done in South Africa (Jewkes et al. 8), women engaged in prostitution because of the economic pressure they were going through.

Women engage in sex for them to meet their material wants. Women conduct sex for material exchange to cater to their unmet needs. In South East Asian nations, many of the prostitutes are women who have either divorced or are single. The result is that in most of these nations, women are the breadwinners. The families in these areas are characterized by abject poverty. What resulted is that families break leaving younger ladies in their families. These families continue to depend on these young ladies who therefore resort to prostitution (International Labour Organization 12).

In the Russian area of Saratov, people who practice prostitution are not tolerated. Male residents of Saratov argue that women who engage themselves in commercial sex should not be shown any respect, understanding, or even love. In South Africa, a group of men who responded to research affirmed that the women who avail themselves of money are unworthy of respect. The results indicated that men who had sex with prostitutes had at one time been engaged in violent criminal activity. Prostitution continues to thrive as a business because men are paying for it.