Prostitution: A Historical Analysis

Child sexual abuse is especially prevalent in victims of domestic sex trafficking, with around 65 to 80 % of victims reporting some sort of childhood sexual abuse such as rape or incest (Countryman-Roswurm, Bolin 2014). Looking at victims’ past trauma history, they are often susceptible to recruiting that involves techniques such as seduction, coercion, and promise of protection occurring at shopping malls, arcades, bus, and even schools (Kotrla, 2010).

Historical analysis and theory

In the past, prostitution was generally viewed as a “moral or ethical” problem with little acknowledgement of age or coercion (Koltra 2010). Prostitution has a history of being perceived as legally deplorable, and part of the difficulty with enacting laws that

For most of the nineteenth century, prostitution was not considered a distinct crime as it was viewed as a “necessary evil.” This view changed during the Progressive era when prostitution began being viewed as deviant behavior, potentially leading women to more crime (Lucas, 1995, p. 47). However, it was more than just related to the specific crime of prostitution as the role of women in society was changing at the time with more women in the workplace and outside of what was thought to be a woman’s place: the home (Lucas, 1995). Prostitution was, in a sense, a symbol of changes in women’s “behaviors and attitudes” causing fear and dismay as it was a threat to gender and societal norms (Lucas, 1995, p. 48). At this time, the view of prostitution coincides with deviant behavior ideologies, which view certain social behaviors as deviant from the norm or expected, in that women were departing from the typical roles and values associated with womanhood (Erikson, 1962). The sexist origins of the criminalization of prostitution tie into the issue of criminalizing victims of sex trafficking in that the blame has historically been on those providing the service instead of the individuals paying for it; in fact, “young girls are prosecuted at reportedly higher rates than even the men who exploit them” (Annitto, 2011, p.