Title: 9.4 Prostitution – Social Problems
Headings: 9.4 Prostitution
9.4 Prostitution
Learning Objectives
History of Prostitution
Prostitution in the United States Today
Types of Prostitutes
Explaining Prostitution
Customers
Sociological Perspectives
Dealing with Prostitution
Lessons from Other Societies
Key Takeaways
References

Content: In 2010, 11.9 percent of men and 1.7 percent of women answered “yes” to this question. These figures translate to about 13.5 million men 18 and older who have engaged in prostitution, usually as the customer, and 2.1 million women. In 2010, police and other law enforcement agents made almost 63,000 arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). Most of these arrests were of prostitutes, but some were of customers. Women accounted for almost 69 percent of the arrests in this entire category. Types of Prostitutes
Several types of prostitutes exist. At the bottom of the prostitution “hierarchy” are streetwalkers (also called street prostitutes ), who typically find their customers, or are found by their customers, somewhere on a street. They then have a quick act of sex in the customer’s car, in an alleyway or other secluded spot, or in a cheap hotel. Although streetwalkers are the subjects in most studies of prostitutes, they in fact compose only about one-fifth of all prostitutes (Weitzer, 2012). The remaining 80 percent of prostitutes generally work indoors.