Presentation Topic: Against

the “PROSTITUTION”
Presenters:
Zarak Khan

Sana Fatima

Isha Abroo

Presented to

Dr. Imran Sabir

 Meaning of Prostitution

• The Oldest Profession

• It is the practice, business, or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with
someone in exchange for immediate payment in money or other valuables.
• The person who do such activity is known as prostitute, Prostitutes may be female,
male or transgender
• prostitution may entail heterosexual or homosexual activity, but historically most
prostitutes have been women and most clients men.
More About Prostitution
 Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legality varies from country to country
(sometimes even from one state or county to another).
 Prostitution is seen as a major issue by many religious groups and feminist activist organizations.
Some feminists believe that prostitution harms and exploits women and reinforces stereotypical
views about women as sex objects.
 prostitution may entail heterosexual or homosexual activity, but historically most prostitutes
have been women and most clients men.
 History of Prostitution

The earliest account of prostitution can be found in the list of occupations included in
the Sumerian Records, dating back to 2400 BCE
The first brothels proper seem to have been in ancient Egypt. Some historians suggest
prostitution was not common until the influence of Greek and Mesopotamian travelers
took hold. But, in the times of the later Pharaohs, dancing women and musicians were
used to recruit men into brothels.
Prostitution in Pakistan’s context
The Constitution of Pakistan states in Article 37 (g) that the State shall ‘prevent prostitution,
gambling and taking of injurious drugs, printing, publication, circulation and display of obscene
literature and advertisements.’ It is clear that a constitutional provision justifies any action taken by
the State that aims to “prevent” prostitution, thus not specifying what means may be taken.
Furthermore, the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 criminalizes the two specific actions under section 371
(a) and (b), namely the selling and buying of a person for the purposes of prostitution; making both
actions punishable for a maximum of twenty five years imprisonment and a fine.
All these laws should be seen in conjunction with The Punjab Suppression of Prostitution
Ordinance, which is directly applicable to Heera Mandi since it is applicable to Lahore and makes
soliciting a crime. Taken together, this proves that Pakistan’s position is such that it makes
prostitution a crime for clients (through charges of fornication), sex workers (through soliciting and
fornication) as well as pimps and traffickers. This also means that there is a risk of sex workers not
approaching courts for even minor legal issues out of fear of having a counter suit filed against
them since the way they earn their living is a criminal offense.
Types of Prostitution

• Streets
• Brothels
• Escort
• Sex Tourism
• Virtual Sex
• Massage Parlor
• Lap Dancing
• Doorway or Window
• Gigolo
 Causes of Prostitution

Poverty

Lack of sex education

Low educational level

Unemployment

Family prostitutes

Mental deficiency

Lack of moral values instilled

Why it shouldn’t be legalized?

The consequences of prostitution are:

• Venereal diseases such as AIDS, HIV, vaginal herpes, gonorrhea, etc..
• Lead to drug addictions
• Precipitates mental weakness
• Social rejection
• Violation of the law
• Unwanted pregnancies
• Broken families
• Increases child trafficking
DEONTOLOGICAL
Arguments

The legalization/decriminalization of prostitution is a Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution

gift to pimps, traffickers, and the sex industry and the sex industry promotes sex trafficking
Legalization/decriminalization of the sex industry also Legalized or decriminalized prostitution
converts brothels, sex clubs, massage parlors, and other
industries are one of the root causes of sex
sites of prostitution activities into legitimate venues
where commercial sexual acts are allowed to flourish
trafficking.
legally with few restraints.  One argument for legalizing prostitution in the
People often don't realize that decriminalization means Netherlands was that legalization would help to
decriminalization of the whole sex industry, not just the end the exploitation of desperate immigrant
women in it. Some people believe that, in calling for women who had been trafficked there for
legalization or decriminalization of prostitution, they
prostitution. However, one report found that 80%
dignify and professionalize the women in prostitution.
of women in the brothels of the Netherlands
But dignifying prostitution as work doesn't dignify the
women, it simply dignifies the sex industry were trafficked from other countries.
The legalization/decriminalization of prostitution Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution
does not control the sex industry. It expands it. increases clandestine, illegal, and street
Over the last decade, as pimping was legalized, and prostitution.
brothels decriminalized in the year 2000, the sex One goal of legalized prostitution was to move
industry increased by 25% in the Netherlands. prostituted women indoors into brothels and clubs
At any hour of the day, women of all ages and races, where they would be allegedly less vulnerable than
dressed in hardly anything, are put on display in the in street prostitution. However, many women are in
notorious windows of Dutch brothels and sex clubs street prostitution because they want to avoid being
and offered for sale. controlled and exploited by pimps. legalization may
 As prostitution has been transformed into “sex work,” drive some women into street prostitution
and pimps into entrepreneurs so this recommendation In the Netherlands, women in prostitution point
transforms trafficking into “voluntary migration for sex out that legalization or decriminalization of the sex
work.” industry does not erase the stigma of prostitution.
The legalization of prostitution in the State of Victoria, Because they must register and lose their
Australia, resulted in a massive expansion of the sex anonymity, women are more vulnerable to being
industry. A range of state-sponsored prostitution stigmatized as “whores,” and this identity follows
systems exist in Austria, Denmark, Germany, the them everyplace.
Netherlands, and Switzerland
The legalization of prostitution and decriminalization of the sex Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not protect
industry increases child prostitution. women in prostitution.
In two studies in which 186 victims of commercial sexual exploitation
Another argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was
were interviewed, women consistently indicated that prostitution
that it would help end child prostitution. Yet child prostitution in the
establishments did little to protect them, regardless of whether the
Netherlands increased dramatically during the 1990s. Child
prostitution has increased dramatically in the state of Victoria establishments were legal or illegal.
compared to other Australian states where prostitution has not been One of these studies interviewed 146 victims of trafficking in 5
legalized. countries. Eighty percent of the women interviewed had suffered
Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution increases the demand physical violence from pimps and buyers and endured similar and
for prostitution. It encourages men to buy women for sex in a wider multiple health effects from the violence and sexual exploitation,
and more permissible range of socially acceptable settings. regardless of whether the women were trafficked internationally
With the advent of legalization in countries that have prostitution.
decriminalized the sex industry, many men who previously would Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not promote
not have risked buying women for sex now see prostitution as women’s health.
acceptable. When legal barriers disappear, so too do the social and
Where brothels allegedly monitored the buyers and employed
ethical barriers to treating women as sexual merchandise. "bouncers," women stated that they were injured by buyers and, at
The legalization of prostitution sends the message to new times, by brothel owners and their friends. Even when someone
generations of men and boys that women are sexual commodities intervened to momentarily control buyers' abuse, women lived in a
and that prostitution is harmless fun. ( Advertisements line the climate of fear. Although 60% of women reported that buyers had
highways of Victoria offering women as objects for sexual use. sometimes been prevented from abusing them, half of those same
Businessmen are encouraged to hold their corporate meetings in women answered that, nonetheless, they thought that they might be
clubs ) killed by one of their buyers
Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution Women in systems of prostitution do not want
does not enhance women’s choices. the sex industry legalized or decriminalized.
They did not sit down one day and decide that they
wanted to be prostitutes. They did not have other
Most of the trafficked and prostituted women
real options such as medicine, law, nursing, or
interviewed in the Philippines, Venezuela, and
the United States (3) strongly stated their opinion
politics. Instead, their “options” were more in the
that prostitution should not be legalized and
realm of how to feed themselves and their children.
considered legitimate work, warning that
Such choices are better-termed survival strategies.
legalization would create more risks and harm
 In one study, 67% of a group of law enforcement for women from already violent customer and
officials expressed the opinion that women did not pimps (Raymond et al, 2002). One woman said,
enter prostitution voluntarily. Similarly, 72% of “No way. It's not a profession. It is humiliating,
social service providers did not think that women and violent from the men's side.” Not one woman
voluntarily choose to enter the sex industry we interviewed wanted her children, family, or
Germany’s experience shows that legalized
friends to have to earn money by entering the sex
industry. Another woman stated: “Prostitution
prostitution doesn’t work. Women are abused hour
stripped me of my life, my health, everything”
after hour in huge mega-brothels around German
cities