At the present time, prostitution falls along the line of social problems. The definition of prostitution is the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone from paying. As some studies indicate, the history of prostitution in Ethiopia goes back to the rise of urbanization and the introduction of Italian colonization( Henslin, 2005, ch.6). People believe that prostitution should be legalized because it can help mainly women make money.
In Germany and New Zealand a person who is employed in the sex industry, are labeled as ”sex worker” (Henslin,2005,ch.6).
People also believe that Men and women are selling themselves to get money that they need, without any attached relationship. Prostitution as a social problem is possibly associated with the growth of improvement as a way of life. Although it has existed throughout history, it has become outrageous in the modern age. Some cities in the south East Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand, just like Australia, which is also known for the sex industry.
The term prostitution seems to appear as an out of date and a more humane term, which is now known as commercial sex work. The root causes of commercial sex work are usually poverty, harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, forced marriage and marriage by abduction, among others.
Dysfunctional marriages, deeply rooted poverty and economic dependency often drive females to become a prostitute; and this may turn contribute to the spread of diseases such as STIs ,HIV, and AIDS. Among women, and the general population, young girls from rural areas usually go to urban centers from rough social and cultural conditions in the rural areas. They end up engaging in commercial sex work to make money. This is usually introduced to indicate that prostitution is also an industry, where individuals are, mainly due to factors beyond their capacity and are forced to sell their bodies to earn money for a career. (Henslin,2005, ch. 6)
Sociologist William Thomas in ‘The Unadjusted Girl’, saw the female prisoner as a product in conjunction that influenced the social environment. Thomas developed a goal-conflicted theory in which he proposed that every human, specifically prostitutes, had four basic desires. For example, such as security, recognition, new experience, and response. The desire for new experience and response which Thomas believed that it influenced female crime. Thomas states ‘A woman who enters a prostitution world are satisfied and are desiring excitement for a woman. Prostitution in one form or another, was the most likely to satisfy the woman’s needs. In fact, critics of Thomas indicated that this sociologist was very sexist because he found out that there were females as offenders through their sexual behavior. Some conflict theorists blame prostitution as an absolute economic theory and claimed that it should be taken down and should be treated with respect as a labor issue, while other conflict theorists say that prostitution gradually affects poor women and, therefore, women of different race, are more likely to be poor. (Henslin,2005, ch.6)
In conclusion, prostitution is still going on in our everyday life, but people choose not to be a prostitute because there are other ways to make money instead of using their bodies for sexual desires and getting paid.
