Prostitution In America

Prostitution is known to be the world’s oldest profession, having been around for so long, this line of work has been subject to a lot of scrutiny; the most important debate resting on the whether or not prostitution should be legal. Although some may believe this debate to be black or white, there are many grey areas that play a part of this ongoing argument; these issues might prove to bring greater complications than meet the eye. Topics such as human rights, government involvement, the police’s role, must be considered when discussing the legality and policies that should be enforced concerning prostitution. Another key variable that must be taken into account when deliberating
the legality of prostitution is the geographical location in which one is situated; culture, values, and religion will impact the approach of different countries regarding this controversy.
Western culture has judged prostitution to be a criminal activity (excluding
Nevada), however this is not the case for some asian countries. This critical review will compare
2 research articles, the first will discuss prostitution in America whereas the second article will explore the Taiwanese sex trade culture.
The first text, written by Sociologist Ronald Weitzer, is an excerpt from the book Crime,
Law and Social Change.
Prostitution control in America: Rethinking Public Policy (Weitzer, 83) discusses the costs, victimization, community impact and mainly the alternative to the current policies that could be implemented regarding prostitution laws. The author, through detailed research, reviews policies such as decriminalization, legalization, and a two­track model which involves indoor prostitution and restructuring street prostitution control. Ultimately deeming the two­track model to be the most effective and promising policy for dealing with prostitution in american culture. (Weitzer, 93) The second text
The Dilemma of prostitution in Taiwan and Thailand from an NHRP
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Perspective
, is researched and written by Min­Hsun Christine Kuo, Siriporn Yamnill and Gary
N. McLean. (Kuo, 493) It discusses through the perspective of the National Human Resource
Development, the implications that prostitution has on taiwanese and thailandese cultures; furthermore, what role should the NHRD play in this situation. For the purpose of this critical review, only the taiwanese culture will be examined. The dilemma expressed by the researchers is that, the HRD (Human Resource Development) plays a large role in providing training, career development and opportunities for various occupations. (Kuo, 494) Seeing as prostitution is a legal occupation in Taiwan, the organization is attempting to determine what should be their stance in addressing the dilemma of prostitution within society. (Kuo, 495) Through their extensive research, multiple themes arose regarding the issue. Those themes include factors that support the sex industry, legal status of prostitution in Taiwan, the extent of the prostitution, the
HRD effort that have already been undertaken and their results, and recommendations made to influence prostitutes to change their profession. (Kuo, 497)
Although the most flagrant difference of how prostitution is viewed in both American and Taiwan is undoubtedly the legality or illegality of prostitution, there are many similarities when it comes to how the problem is being dealt with. That being that the commonality between the two is that prostitution is viewed as a problem to both societies, consequently a deviant act.
This similarity is easy to depict because the main idea of both articles is how higher, more influential powers, more specifically the government, can help securitize prostitution for both societies. It must be noted that although both articles exhibit the recurring theme of policies and intervening in the rules of prostitution, the way that they go about dealing with it in America is completely different than the procedures that are taken in Taiwan, this being in direct correlation

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with the laws enforced in both countries. Seeing as prostitution is illegal in America (Weitzer,
83), however still very present is western culture, the suggested policies given by the researcher are focused on trying to eliminate prostitution as a whole. The reasons behind doing so are in order to reduce the criminality rate, protect the communities where this sort of activity is occurring and creating a deterrence for all those involved in human sex trafficking. There are many risk that are involved in this sort of work, including violence towards the prostitutes, health problems such as sexually transmitted diseases, exploitations from pimps, drugs, etc. (Weitzer,
84) In the attempt to try and discourage the act of prostitution, law enforcements have cracked down on the customers, using shaming sanctions, where the goal is to humiliate and expose the offender in the hopes that this will act as a deterrent. (Weitzer, 96) Regardless of the fact that the american government is trying eliminate prostitution from its society, this article showed little in americans desire to help protect the prostitutes that are working in their communities. The article even states: “Why would any American city assumed the added burden of planning, launching and managing a system of care for prostitution when the benefits are doubtful and when the logistical, resource, and moral cost would be envisioned as unacceptably high?” (Weitzer, 89)
While this sort of intervention does not seem to be in the plans for american societies, this is exactly what taiwanese interventions are geared towards.
Because prostitution is legal in Taiwan (Kuo, 499), law enforcements are looking to provide protection towards those practicing this profession. The legalization of prostitution often refers to state­imposed controls over licensed, permitted prostitution meaning that the law regulates the human sex trade businesses, provides health check and registration of health status, etc. (Kuo, 498) The NRD hopes to provide additional training, healthcare benefits such as check

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ups, however their main objective is to convince women to leave this profession through occupational training, employment allowance, counselling and guidance. (Kuo, 501) However, this has been proven to be difficult, most women who are in the sex trade business can earn
60,00 ­ 70,00 NT whereas a college graduate earns on average 25,000 NT. (Kuo, 494) This proves that prostitution is a flourishing, high paying occupation which could explain why prostitutes are reluctant to leave this field of work. In order to eliminate the risks linked to this social problem, the NRD provides many training opportunities, the most significant being sex education in the school systems in order to promote safe sex practices that are essential for the health of both sex workers and their customers. (Kuo, 503)
The methodologies used in the research papers were quite similar as they both focus on a extensive field data collected by other researchers in the form of a literature review. The research conducted on taiwanese societies was collected from Google Scholar, the electronic library system of the University of Minnesota and references provided by those interviewed and included in articles identified. (Kuo, 497) The interviewees were those who have previously conducted research regarding the involvement of the HRD and their interventions with prostitution. These interviews were collected from the officials of the Taiwan Labor and Human
Resources Bureau. (Kuo, 497) The article pertaining to prostitution in america retrieved their information from a string of interviews with certain government officials, police departments and vice officers all throughout america. Their also collected data from numerous legal documents as well as articles pertaining to the topic of prostitution. (Weitzer, 99)
The authors of the article about prostitution in America view the topic through functionalist theory. They are aware that prostitution is universal throughout all societies, and

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that societies view and perspective of prostitution is changing over time. This is why their article examines the different policies that have, should and could be implemented. The functionalist theory has the view that all society is working together for the greater good, the others honor this by looking for the most reasonable policy that would favor the prostitutes as well as the customers and society as a whole.
They hope that by informally ‘decriminalizing’ indoor prostitution, this will allow for an overall safer community if we are not being exposed directly to this deviant behaviour. (Weitzer, 90) In addition, they hope to ‘reconstruct street prostitution control’ which will consist of more frequent street arrest or the prostitutes and their patronizers.
However, it is pointed out in the article that most prostitutes prefer the streets because there is more business and money to be made, which could cause a riff in this policy. Because prostitution is a crime in America, this deviant act creates laws regarding this topic. Much like the authors from the previous article, the authors from article about Taiwan, the authors also adopted the functionalist theory when discussing prostitution. They are aware that prostitution is essential to the better functioning of taiwanese culture because of its economic and
societal value. Even though prostitution is legal in Taiwan, it is still viewed as a deviant act, mainly because sexuality is not something that is very broadly discussed within taiwanese culture and society, therefore the HRD sees prostitution as a way to deter other from involving themselves in this field of work.

In conclusion, both these articles viewed prostitution as an issue that must be dealt with in order to better society as a whole for both circumstances. I believe that the authors from both articles had a realistic approach to the issue at hand and were able to each come up with strong arguments and ideas that would benefit both societies.

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Bibliography
Kuo, Min­Hsun Christine, Yamnill S. and McLean G.,
The Dilemma of prostitution in Taiwan and Thailand from an NHRP Perspective
. Human Resource Development International. Vol. 11,
No.5, 2008, pp. 493­505. Print Weitzer, Ronald. Prostitution control in America: Rethinking Public Policy.
Crime, Law &
Social Change. 2000, pp. 83­102. Print

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