Transcript Chapter 12 Prostitution, Pornography, & the Sex Trade This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law.

Chapter 12
Prostitution,
Pornography,
& the Sex Trade
This multimedia product and its contents are
protected under copyright law. The following
are prohibited by law:
•Any public performance or display, including
transmission of any image over a network;
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the extraction, in whole or in part, of any
images;
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Myth or Fact?

Pornography tends to
be popular in
communities where
there is much hostility
toward women.
Fact

Prostitution is one of
the categories of crime
in which women far
outnumber men as
perpetrators.
Myth
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Variety in Human Sexuality

A Cross Cultural View
 Sexual
attitudes and behavior vary from culture to
culture.
 There is also variety in sexual behavior within the same
culture.

Sexual Standards in the U.S.
 Today
people are more divided than in the past over
premarital sexuality.
 Sexual behavior is very sensitive and therefore
information about it is not always easy to get.
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What accounts for the changes
in sexual behavior?
Contraceptives
Secularization
Feminist Movement
Technological
Developments
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Prostitution

Prostitution
 sexual
activity in exchange for money or
goods, in which the primary motivation for the
prostitute is neither sexual nor affectional.
 Categories of prostitutes range from
streetwalkers to call girls to male prostitutes.

Precise numbers on the incidence of
prostitution are impossible to obtain.
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Arguments For Legalizing
Prostitution


Those that favor legalizing prostitution argue
that it is a “victimless crime” and that what goes
on between consenting adults in private should
not be a matter for law enforcement.
Problems related to illegal prostitution include
the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and
prostitution falling under the control of organized
crime.
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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Arguments Against Legalizing
Prostitution
Critics of legalization argue that legalizing
prostitution does not stop the health and
crime problems associated with
prostitution but simply pushes it into illegal
trade.
 Other critics argue that legalized
prostitution does create victims: the
prostitutes themselves.

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Who Becomes a Prostitute?
An important step in becoming a prostitute is
knowing others who are involved in the trade.
 The majority of female prostitutes are
between 17 and 24 years of age who often
have had early and frequent promiscuous
sexual experiences.
 Male prostitutes tend to come from either a
peer-delinquent subculture or the gay
subculture.
 Leaving prostitution can be difficult.

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Pornography

Pornography describes “sexually ‘explicit’
writings, still or motion pictures and similar
products designed to be sexually
arousing.”
 Tremendous
controversy surrounds what is
and what is not pornographic and what, if
anything, should be censored.
 Debates also exist as to whether there is a
link between pornographic materials and
violence.
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Pornography & the Law

Material must meet 3 conditions established
by the U.S. Supreme Court case Miller v.
California (1973) to be considered obscene.
1. The average person applying community
standards considers the material as a whole to
appeal to prurient interests.
2. The material depicts sexual conduct,
specifically defined by state or federal law, in a
patently offensive way.
3. The work lacks serious artistic, literary, political
or scientific value.
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The Functionalist Perspective

Deviant behaviors, such as prostitution and
pornography, continue to exist because they
perform important functions for society, such
as
 establishing
the acceptable morality for society
 providing for a wider array of sexual outlets and
services in a society that places restrictions on
what is acceptable sexual conduct
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The Conflict Perspective

The sex trade is closely related to issues of
social inequality and the exercise of power.
 At
one level the sex trade represents gender
inequality in a patriarchal society.
 At another level the sex trade relates to
poverty and economic inequality.
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The Interactionist Perspective

Sexual deviance has to do with varying
definitions of reality and with the impact of
labeling and stigmatization on self-concept
and self-worth.
 The
result is a competition of “moral
entrepreneurs” with each trying to impose its
definition of what is moral on society as a
whole.
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Future Prospects




Social policy regarding many forms of sexual
behavior remains highly controversial.
Disapproval of various forms of sexual behavior
tends to be greater when force is involved, or when
one partner is not an adult.
Research fails to show that prostitution and
pornography, in and of themselves, are detrimental
to society.
Problems arise from the hostile reactions that some
groups have toward these forms of sexual
expression.
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Future Prospects
Possible Governmental
Approaches to Prostitution
Laissez-faire
Model
Regulation
Model
Zoning
Model
Control
Model
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