Transcript Black Markets: Prostitution - MHS

Black Markets: Prostitution
Economics
Mr. Joshi
History of Prostitution
A prostitute is someone, most often a woman,
who exchanges sex for resources.
• Sometimes called “the world’s oldest
profession”
• Took many forms in ancient times from campfollower, temple worker, mistress, slave,
concubine
Research on Prostitution
• Timothy Guilfoil’s “City of Eros” – book about
NYC in the early 1900s mentions that there
was a brothel on virtually every block!
• Why?
• New York City, and many industrial centers
were places full of men with spending money.
Criminalization of U.S. Prostitution
• Prostitution was tolerated though criminalized
in cities throughout U.S. history (and
continues to be).
• A 1910 Department of Justice report stated
that in 310 U.S. cities, there were 200,000
working prostitutes – and given the
population at the time, that would mean 1 out
of every 50 women in their 20s was working
as a prostitute.
Why would women become
prostitutes?
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Lack of money
Drug addiction (opium in the old days)
Sold into brothel by family
Lost virginity and so no longer “marriable”
Lack of other viable career options (teacher,
nurse, maid/servant, nannies)
Wage Comparison
• In a Chicago study (where there were reportedly
1000 brothels in the early 1900s), here is how
wages compared for women who didn’t choose
traditional female careers:
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$6/per week for factory work
$25-$70 per week for working as a prostitute
In the Butterfly Club in Chicago:
$250 to enter; $370 for champagne; $1250 for sex
A Pyramid in Prostitution
Mistress
Escort/Call
Girl
Brothel Prostitutes
Streetwalkers
Sex Slaves
SuperFreakonomics Study
• Sudhir Venkatesh – the same guy from the
drug gang study decided to spend two years
studying prostitution in Chicago!
• The work of 160 street prostitutes was studied
in three poor and working-class
neighborhoods in Chicago over a two year
period. Venkatesh used former prostitutes to
gather data after each transaction!
Results of the study
• The 160 prostitutes participated in sex
transactions.
• The average prostitute in the study worked 15
hours a week and made $350.
• This works out to $18,200 per year
• 83% of the prostitutes were drug addicts
• The average prostitute had 12 acts of violence
committed against them by customers.
• 3 of the 160 died over the two year study due
to violence from customers.
• The average prostitute had 300 unprotected
sex acts per year.
• Pimps in the study made an average of
$50,000 per year.
• The average prostitute participated in 450 sex
transactions before getting arrested.
• 1 in 10 arrests resulted in prison time.
• 3% of all sex transactions were given as bribes
for police officers
Impact of Pimps on Wages
•
Weekly $ Avg. Transactions per week
• Solo
$325
7.8
• W/Pimp
$410
6.2
• Pimps were found to be worth the extra fee due
to their ability to bring higher-paying customers
to the neighborhood and their ability to protect
prostitutes from gangs (violence) and police
(arrest).
In a report by the Chicago Police Dept.
• 4,400 street prostitutes in Chicago who
participated in 1.6 million sex transactions with
175,000 different men.
• A man’s chances of being arrested for being a
customer is 1 for every 1200 visits
• Since the 1950s, the income payoff for
prostitution has gone down dramatically – why?
Comparing Demand Factors
• Demand Factors in the 1950s
• Strict social morality discouraged pre-marital sex –
Only 33% of men participated
• Abortion was illegal
• 20% of first sexual encounters were with prostitutes
• Sexual adventurousness for women was discouraged
within marriage.
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• Demand Factors Today
• Moral permissiveness
• Abortion legal
• Birth Control pills available
• Feminism as allowed for greater sexual
adventurousness.
Prostitution as Sex Slavery in the
Modern World
• William Kristof reports for the New York Times
• http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/03/opi
nion/1194837193498/the-face-ofslavery.html?scp=1&sq=kristof%20sex%20slavery
&st=cse (5 ½ min)
• http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/09/24/opi
nion/1194818192946/fighting-sex-trafficking-incambodia.html?scp=2&sq=kristof%20sex%20slav
ery&st=cse (3 min)
Prostitution Debate
• Should prostitution be legalized – is it a
victimless crime or a moral evil that will
destroy society as we know it?