Portal:Prostitution
Introduction
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker and whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work in prostitution. The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients.
Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country). In most cases, it can be either an enforced crime, an unenforced crime, a decriminalized activity, a legal but unregulated activity, or a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (in-call). Another form is street prostitution.
According to a 2011 report by Fondation Scelles there are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion. (Full article...)
Selected article
Prostitution in Egypt is illegal. The Egyptian National Police officially combats prostitution but, like almost all other countries, prostitution exists in Egypt. UNAIDS estimate there to be 23,000 prostitutes in the country, including Egyptians, Eastern Europeans, and of many other nationalities.
Prostitution flourished following the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. The French organised additional prostitutes brought over from Europe. STIs spread rapidly through the brothels and this prompted the French authorities to introduce a law forbidding French troops from entering a brothel or having prostitutes in their rooms. Offenders received a death penalty. After the British occupation of 1882, the authorities were concerned about disease spreading amongst the troops. They made legal provisions to control prostitution and introduced a system of healthcare. In July 1885 Egypt's Ministry of the Interior introduced regulations for the health inspection of prostitutes. (read more...)
Selected biography
Sally Salisbury (c.1692 – 1724), real name Sarah Pridden and also known as Sarah Priddon, was a celebrated prostitute in early 18th-century London. She was the lover of many notable members of society, and socialised with many others. In 1722 she stabbed and wounded a client. As a result, she was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. She was sent to Newgate Prison to serve her sentence but died in prison after only nine months.
She was born around 1690–1692 and given the name Sarah Pridden. Her father was a bricklayer. At the age of nine she was apprenticed to a seamstress in Aldgate. After losing a valuable piece of lace she ran away and took to life on the streets of the slum district of St Giles. (read more...)
Did you know?
- ...that Ida Dorsey built the last standing bordello (pictured) from Minneapolis' three red-light districts?
- ...that Amsterdam's Prostitution Information Center provides the city's visitors with information and advice about prostitution?
- ...that because of an effort to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, prostitution in Germany has been legal since the 1920s?
- ...that the chrysargyron tax forced some Byzantine families to sell their children into slavery and prostitution?
Quotes
| “ | [in Kenya]...any woman who is single and has multiple male sex partners is considered to be a prostitute, whether or not money changes hands. | ” |
Anniversaries - December
- 1st
- 1992: The Prostitution Act 1992 (Anna's Law), came into force in the Australian Capital Territory. The law regulated prostitution in the Territory.
- 6th
- 2014: The Parliament of Canada passed legislation to criminalise the buying of sex.
- 13th
- 17th
- 2003: First International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. The event has taken place annually since then.
- 20th
- 2013: The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country's prostitution laws, finding that bans on street soliciting, brothels and people living off the avails of prostitution create severe dangers for vulnerable women.
- 30th
- 1965: Birth of Heidi Fleiss (the Hollywood Madam), an American former madam, and television personality who was imprisoned for running a prostitution ring based in Los Angeles.
- 31st
Selected image
Legality Map
Subcategories
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Get involved
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Portal:Prostitution-related articles, see WikiProject Sexology and sexuality/Sex work task force.
Here are some tasks you can do:
- Start a new article. Prostitution is a broad topic, so there will always be plenty of missing articles.
- Clean up existing articles. A lists of articles needing cleanup is available here.
- Expand an existing article. Existing articles are often incomplete and missing information on key aspects of the topic. Stubs can be found in Category:Stub-Class Sex work articles.
- Discuss. Get involved in discussions on prostitution related articles, a current listing is available here
- Improve main article prostitution to featured status.
- Suggest improvements to this portal here
Recognised content
Featured (13)
Good (18)
- Mah Laqa Bai
- Butters' Bottom Bitch
- Child prostitution
- Elizabeth Cresswell
- Casey Donovan
- Dumas Brothel
- Andrea Dworkin
- Natasha Falle
- Kanhopatra
- Caroline Lacroix
- Ipswich serial murders
- National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
- Neaira (hetaera)
- Salon Kitty
- She Has a Name
- Soho
- Valerie Solanas
- Three Sisters Tavern
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