Sex for sale

 

If you look at prostitution in general and consider the reasons and motivations for people to enter the sex industry, four very different categories can be defined based on the prostitutes’ differing degree of freedom of choice.

 

 

The first category

Consists of self-starting women who have a good and well-paid business independent of pimps. Many of these women enter the line of prostitution because of the high pay, and some consider it a job on equal footing with other jobs. The women in this category are often citizens in the country where they work. This category does not involve trafficking.

 

 

The second category

Consists of women who occasionally prostitute themselves to supplement their main income also from a position that allows them the freedom to make their own choices. Their reasons for entering prostitution may be the same as in the first group, and often they are not affected by exploitation from pimps or other middlemen.

Many from this category are young women who are trying to find a way into other careers and sometimes work in the sex industry taking part in prostitution, strip or pornography. Often the women in this group are citizens of the country they work in. This category does not involve trafficking.

 

 

The third category

Consists of women who have been pressured into prostitution because of serious economic hardship or/and a lack of other opportunities. They enter the sex industry in a position of powerlessness and are often forced to submit themselves to extreme forms of exploitation by other people in the sex industry such as pimps or criminal gangs.

Many from this category are women from economically stricken areas in Eastern Europe, Africa, Balkan and Southeast Asia. Women in this group are often mercilessly exploited by other segments in the sex industry and prostituted in the streets, closed brothels or isolated houses. The use of violence and other extreme methods vary in severity depending on place and circumstances, and it is very difficult to assess exactly how many are exploited and how. This category may involve trafficking.

 

 

The fourth and last category
Consists of women and children who are outright victims of trafficking, women who have been lured abroad with false promises such as fake job ads or dishonest marriage proposals. What is common for the women is that they are later forced or pressured into prostitution. It also includes women who are deceived regarding the conditions of their prostitution.

The criminal masterminds behind the victims’ exploitation take almost all of their commission. This means that the victims are never able to realise their dream of a better life and financial stability in their homeland or the country they work. This category is trafficking.

At times the four categories within prostitution overlap, and one woman can pass back and forward between different categories.