Prostitution as Deviant Behavior - Essay Example

Prostitution as deviant behavior ment of problem The deviant act that will be analyzed in this paper is being engaged in the prostitution willingly. In spite of the fact that there are many women who are forced to take up this “occupation”, there are some who choose to be a prostitute which is a rather peculiar choice for a person keeping in mind the current attitude of the major part of the society towards this activity. Speaking of the latter, the societal response to the above mentioned deviant action is highly negative. The women who decide to become prostitutes have to conceal their way of life as otherwise they would be stigmatized by the majority. In spite of the fact that the “clients” who consume their “services” also constitute a certain part of the society, the public opinion about prostitutes in the modern times has always been extremely critical. The sociological significance of the analysis of prostitution as a deviant act is obvious: it sheds light on the area of social life that has always existed and will always exist, trying to identify the factors that caused certain individuals to choose this way of life, the laws that govern this world and its interaction with the conventional side of the society. This project will present an overview of the relevant literature, dwell on the methodology that is used in the course of it and present the conclusions of analysis of prostitution as deviant behavior. The last section will contain the summary of evidence that was obtained and will examine the issue from a broad perspective. Survey of literature Now, it would be rather important to engage different sources from the academic literature in order to establish the framework of analysis and see what scholars who have been analysis this topic have found. The book that is titled Deviant Behaviour Readings In The Sociology Of Norm Violations by Clifton D. Bryant may be considered to be an important contribution to the research as it dwells on the very definition of deviance and provides the researcher with some basic terms (Bryant 4). The next book which is titled Sociology of Deviant Behavior and was written y a group of researchers Clinard and Meier gives a valuable insight into the network of prostitution, particularly focusing on the kind that can be witnessed on the streets. It analyzes the main actors involved and the interaction with law enforcement agencies (Clinard and Meier 358). Another source which will be used during the investigation of the above mentioned social phenomena has the title The Sex Industry and was written by Darryl Hall. The author presents an overview of the industry in general, presenting the categorization of prostitutes, the kinds of environment that they operate in as well as the facts that influence that (Hall). Finally, the article by Cotton, Farley and Baron which is titled Attitudes Towards Prostitution and Acceptance of Rape Myths shows the connection between the views of the public on rape and prostitution, arguing that up to a certain point the society which is dominated by men legitimized aggressive sexual behavior towards women (Cotton, Farley and Baron 1790). Methodological statement Since this is a research that is based on field work, there is no doubt that the primary source of obtaining data would be interviews. Indeed, they will not only enable the researcher to get in touch with people who practice the deviant behavior in question, but also will provide information that is taken from their personal experience which greatly contributes to the objectivity of the information that is being conveyed. The evidence that will be discussed in the further section is taken from the interviews with three women who are prostitutes. For privacy reasons the time, the place, the names and other information that could be used in any way to identify them is altered to protect their lives. All the interviews were recorded on tape and latter the transcript was made. Nevertheless, the transcript was altered to conceal the real names and the audio files were deleted so that they would not disclose facts about the environment when the interview was recorded. In addition to that, the text of the interviews has also been amended: some parts which are irrelevant to the topics where omitted and some lines were adjusted so that they could be used in an academic paper. All in all, the interviews that were conducted provided the researcher with the sufficient amount of material that could be used to make objective conclusions about the above mentioned kind of deviant behavior. Study report To begin with, it would be important to dwell on the very nature of the deviant act that is being discussed. Thus, this paper does not deal with prostitution as a social phenomenon, but rather the fact that some individuals are willing to take part in this particular area of social activity, knowing that this is likely to have a negative influence on their social image. Keeping in mind that this might be considered to be an extremely negative action in the eyes of the society, the latter has featured a negative response to the people who are engaged in prostitution. Thus, those women who openly practiced freedom of sexual life and sold their body for sexual pleasures were stigmatized and became a target of harsh criticism from the rest of the public. This resulted in the fact that some women who did not want to damage their social image started to conceal the fact that they worked as a prostitute in order to remain within the acceptable social framework. Nevertheless, those women who were quite firm in their decision or felt that they were not able to return to the normal life style accepted their exclusion from the society up to a certain extent. Speaking of the reasons why the above mentioned behavior should be considered to be deviant, one should take a close look at the development of the human civilization in general. Thus, from the dawn of the society, one of the fundamental units of it, namely a family, has been highly respected and the sexual life of men and women was usually regarded as a tool that lead to giving birth to children. In spite of the fact that there are cultures which attributed some spiritual meaning to the act of sex, in many religious it is largely thought to be in opposition to spirituality. In addition to that, the society largely imposed limits on the sexual freedom of a woman: having been married, she was thought to be allowed to have sexual intercourse only with her husband, while the premarital sexual relationships were largely condemned. As one can easily see, adopting a life style of a prostitute break all the above mentioned rules. If one considers the social forces that are operating in the situation in question, one might point out that there is an explicit conflict between an individuals and his or her desire to live life in a manner that one wants to as well as the public opinion which largely relies on the tradition (various ethical norms and practices), the criminal code (prostitution is illegal in the majority of the countries) and spiritual doctrines. As a result, the person who is known to be engaged in prostitution feels enormous pressure from the rest of the society and can hardly find any compassion, except from other people who have adopted a similar lifestyle which results into further exclusion of the original person and immersion into an alternative social environment. The interviews with the prostitutes also feature the fact that they have adopted a different set of values and no longer live according to the categories that the ordinary citizens adhere to. For example, over the course of the interview, one prostitute pointed out that during the night she had sexual intercourse with four different men and she thinks that “the night is slow”. There is no doubt in the fact that she does not even think that such promiscuity is something that is wrong. In other words, the conventional approach towards the sexual life that is being promoted in the society when sexual intercourse is largely limited to a spouse does not seem to make sense to her. Another interesting point that should me noted is the way these women see their legal status. Thus, all of them are aware that they are likely to have troubles with law if they are caught by the police. Nevertheless, the majority of them try to bride the law enforcing officers so that the latter would not bother them. Indeed, this peculiar collaboration tends to provide an important highlight into the way the society operates: in spite of the fact that the police strives to battle the crime (and prostitution is defined as a crime), on the personal level the officers are ready to accept bribes and allow the crime to happen if it does not harm anyone. However, one would make not mistake that this is likely to have a rather negative influence on the social life in general. Summary and Conclusion As one can easily see, making a life choice to become a prostituted shoul be considered to be a manifestation of a deviant behavior since in this case a person tends to adhere to values that are different and sometimes almost opposite from the ones that are being promoted by the society. Thus, there prostitutions no longer consider sex to be a kind of activity the purpose of which is to give birth to children. They largely regard it is a stable source of income for them with pregnancy being an undesirable side effect that they are able to deal with easily. What is more important is that one might discuss the opposition between the ordinary citizens as well as those who are engaged in prostitutions. It would not be a mistake to point out that over the course of centuries the society has been condemning this “profession” and stigmatizing people who were willing participating in this field. This resulted into a certain division of society when people who in fact were prostituted had to conceal this fact so that they would not be expelled from the social environment. This long term opposing between the ordinary citizens and the prostitutes resulted in the emergence of a different world which was formed by similar outcasts. That is why there is no wonder that the prostitutes are not willing to acknowledge their way of life publically. It is quite obvious that making a decision to become a prostitute should be considered be a deviant act for a number of reasons. To begin with, it largely contradicts with the basis idea of a person in the society. While an ordinary citizen is encouraged to find a partner to create a family and sex is the activity that they might be engaged in to produce children, the prostitutes have a completely different approach to sexual life. From their point of view, sex is nothing but a set of certain movements that are paid well so they do not see a problem in obtaining the financial funds with the help of those movements. As has been already noted the social forces that have an important impact on the situation primarily include the conservative side of the society that is the main spokesman for the kind of beliefs that prostitution as a phenomenon rejects. Indeed, the majority of the societies prostitution is considered to be an unpleasant and shameful backside of it that can hardly be eliminated due to the carnal nature of the human beings. Nevertheless, this situation also shows that the inner potential of a person sometimes might be manifested in that such activities which are condemned by the society. Indeed, it not only takes a considerable amount of courage to willingly become a prostitute, but also so follow this path for many years when there are different obstacles, legal, ethical and spiritual on this way. Finally, it is rather interesting to point out that in the course of performing their “professional” duties the prostitutes seem to have developed an approach towards their sexual life that features a considerable number of differences. For example, as has already been noted, one of the women who was interviewed did not see a problem in the fact that during one night she had had sex with four different man. What is more important is that she is not satisfied with this number, suggesting that she could have earned a lot more in case she had more clients. It is beyond any doubt that this kind of thinking features a completely different logic that the majority of the citizens adhere to. Thus, it shows that for a prostitutes sex is an act that has lost any significance, but financial. In addition to that one should also point out that prostitution inevitable leads to a peculiar relationship with the law enforcement agencies. Thus, on the one hand, the latter always have a legitimate reason to arrest a person as prostitution is considered to be a crime. Nevertheless, they are usually paid to leave the prostitutes alone. This aspect is quite significant while analyzing this kind of deviant behavior as it shows that such a person is not only ready to go against the will of the society in terms of morals, but may also break some rules and regulations that are enshrined in the legal system. That is why prostitution should be considered to be a deviant behavior. Works Cited Bryant, Clifton D. Deviant Behaviour Readings In The Sociology Of Norm Violations. London: Routledge, 2014. Print. Clinard, Marshall B., and Robert Meier. Sociology of Deviant Behavior. 14th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Cotton, Ann, Melissa Farley, and Robert Baron. "Attitudes Toward Prostitution and Acceptance of Rape Myths." Journal of Applied Social Psychology (2000): 1790–1796. Print. Hall, Darryl. "The Sex Industry." Angelfire. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. . Read More