Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Prostitution: Female Prostitution: Summary 3

Female prostitution evokes powerful, but ambivalent social attitudes because it involves two touchy subjects – the role of women and sexual activity. Part of this ambivalence is undoubtedly caused by a bad conscience. Many people sense that the traditional way of treating women is fundamentally unfair and that this unfairness taints our entire system of controlling human sexual behavior. A patriarchal system can survive as long as women accept their assigned roles, and, as it turns out, not only the faithful house wife, but also the prostitute helps to support the principle of male domination. Sexual activity also remains unthreatening as long as it serves the purposes of reproduction and of male pleasure. By the same token, however, there remains a double threat that may grow in the future: Women may want to determine their own social roles and demand their own pleasure. This, in turn, may very well redefine the meaning of sexual activity for everyone and liberate it from its present patriarchal constraints - a prospect that is feared and desired at the same time.