Prostitution

The act of performing sexual acts for money or other goods. Most prostitutes (also known as "whores", "harlots", "trollops", "hookers", or "strumpets") are women, although some men and (unfortunately) children are also in the trade. This largely illegal profession is one of the oldest markets in the world and, despite efforts, will probably exist for as long as humans (and other animals) exist. Still, while prostitution is argued to be the "world's oldest profession", child abuse is just as old and nobody justifies that. Contrary to the glamor that the media gives to the image of prostitution (such as films like "Pretty Woman"), there is hardly anything at all glamorous about the trade. Most women who have become prostitutes were raped as children, came from unstable or abusive homes, suffer from addiction, any number of traumas, and often ended up as runaways before entering the sex trade. Low self-esteem is also a major risk factor, whether or not the girls come from poor familes. Other women have been tricked or outright forced into prostitution; pimps, who can easily be described as men who have no respect for women and care only about their own gain, are the ones who recruit girls as young as twelve to work for them. The pimp usually lures the young, impressionable runaway by acting as a boyfriend or a father-figure to her, offering support to her... and training her like a dog all the while; once she's under his power, she has little chance to escape. Even those who willingly turn to selling themselves do so out of desperation to survive rather than because they like the work. Mothers (especially poor, unmarried ones) who have fallen on hard times and are desperate to support their children have also ended up in the trade (like Fantine from "Les Miserables"). The idea of the "happy hooker", who likes her work, comes from the fact that the women usually are putting on an act; it helps them to attract buyers if they're smiling and happy instead of crying and upset. Plus, to quote "Moulin Rouge", they're "paid to make men believe what they want to believe". Prostitutes range from the high-end call girls and courtesans in the legal brothels with rich clients to the homeless, drug-addicted streetwalkers who prowl the streets and the truck stops at night, shivering in their skimpy clothes, hoping that they will survive the night. The women are often looked on with disdain, disrespected, harassed and attacked, and treated as if they weren't even human. By and large, most prostitutes do not want to be prostitutes.