Prostitution in Five Countries: Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

We initiated this research in order to address some of the issues that have arisen in discussions about the nature of prostitution. In particular: is prostitution just a job or is it a violation of human rights? From the authors' perspective, prostitution is an act of violence against women; it is an act which is intrinsically traumatizing to the person being prostituted. We interviewed 475 people (including women, men and the transgendered) currently and recently prostituted in five countries (South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Zambia). In response to questionnaires which inquired about current and lifetime history of physical and sexual violence, what was needed in order to leave prostitution and current symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) we found that violence marked the lives of these prostituted people. Across countries, 73 percent reported physical assault in prostitution, 62 percent reported having been raped since entering prostitution, 67 percent met criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. On average, 92 percent stated that they wanted to leave prostitution. We investigated effects of race, and whether the person was prostituted on the street or in a brothel. Despite limitations of sample selection, these findings suggest that the harm of prostitution is not culture-bound. Prostitution is discussed as violence and human rights violation.

[1]  L. Whitbeck,et al.  Sexual Abuse as a Precursor to Prostitution and Victimization Among Adolescent and Adult Homeless Women , 1991 .

[2]  D. Kaloupek,et al.  Ethnocultural considerations in the assessment of PTSD. , 1996 .

[3]  A. Marsella,et al.  Ethnocultural aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder : issues, research, and clinical applications , 1996 .

[4]  TheLancet.  Buying sex, safely , 1996, The Lancet.

[5]  M. Friedman,et al.  Ethnocultural aspects of PTSD: An overview of issues and research directions. , 1996 .

[6]  A. Pines,et al.  Victimization of street prostitutes. , 1982 .

[7]  D. Weisberg,et al.  Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution. , 1985 .

[8]  Andrea Dworkin.  Prostitution and Male Supremacy , 1993 .

[9]  G. R. Norton,et al.  Dissociation and abuse among multiple-personality patients, prostitutes, and exotic dancers. , 1990, Hospital & community psychiatry.

[10]  Margaret A. Baldwin.  5. Split at the Root: Prostitution and Feminist Discourses of Law Reform , 1992, Prostitution and Pornography.

[11]  S. Turner,et al.  Psychiatric Morbidity in Survivors of Organised State Violence Including Torture , 1993, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[12]  Judith Lewis Herman,et al.  Trauma and Recovery , 2015 .

[13]  M. P. Root.  Women of color and traumatic stress in "domestic captivity": Gender and race as disempowering statuses. , 1996 .

[14]  Alexander C. McFarlane,et al.  The epidemiology of PTSD: A comprehensive review of the international literature , 1996 .

[15]  A. Pines,et al.  Early Sexual Exploitation as an Influence in Prostitution , 1983 .

[16]  S. Sturdevant,et al.  Let the good times roll : prostitution and the U.S. military in Asia , 1992 .

[17]  Rosemary Auchmuty.  The Idea of Prostitution , 2000 .

[18]  M. Farley,et al.  Physical symptoms, somatization, and dissociation in women survivors of childhood sexual assault. , 1997, Women & health.

[19]  E. Rawlings,et al.  Loving to Survive: Sexual Terror, Men's Violence, and Women's Lives , 1994 .

[20]  D. Saunders.  Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Profiles of Battered Women: A Comparison of Survivors in Two Settings , 1994, Violence and Victims.

[21]  M A Muecke,et al.  Mother sold food, daughter sells her body: the cultural continuity of prostitution. , 1992, Social science & medicine.

[22]  BagleyChris,et al.  Juvenile Prostitution and Child Sexual Abuse: A Controlled Study , 1987 .

[23]  A. Pines,et al.  Sexual child abuse as an antecedent to prostitution , 1981 .

[24]  I. Bownes,et al.  Assault characteristics and posttraumatic stress disorder in rape victims , 1991, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[25]  N. El-Bassel,et al.  Sex trading and psychological distress among women recruited from the streets of Harlem. , 1997, American journal of public health.

[26]  A. Kemp,et al.  Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in battered women: A shelter sample , 1991 .

[27]  D. Foy,et al.  Posttraumatic stress disorder in adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse: a comparison study. , 1997, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[28]  Susan Hunter.  Prostitution is Cruelty and Abuse to Women and Children , 1993 .

[29]  D. Foy,et al.  The Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Battered Women , 1991 .

[30]  J. James,et al.  Early sexual experience and prostitution. , 1977, The American journal of psychiatry.

[31]  K. Barry.  The Prostitution of Sexuality , 1994 .

[32]  H. Joffe.  Prostitutes' well-being and risk. , 1999 .

[33]  Andrea Dworkin,et al.  Life and death , 1854 .

[34]  D. Weisberg.  Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution , 1984 .

[35]  Katherine Hanson,et al.  Backstreets: Prostitution, Money, and Love , 1992 .

[36]  O. Patterson,et al.  Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. , 1984 .

[37]  H. Barkan,et al.  Prostitution, violence, and posttraumatic stress disorder. , 1998, Women & health.

[38]  Shannon Bell,et al.  Reading, Writing, and Rewriting the Prostitute Body , 1994 .

[39]  A. Pines,et al.  Pornography and sexual abuse of women , 1984 .

[40]  N. Mckeganey,et al.  Sex work on the streets : prostitutes and their clients , 1996 .

[41]  C. Mackinnon.  Prostitution and Civil Rights , 1993 .