Quick Facts

Prostitutes face violence from men every day. The violence may be physical, sexual, or emotional in nature and can be perpetrated by clients, pimps, and even police officers. Because prostitution is illegal, much of it takes place underground, which makes it difficult to estimate the rate of violence these women face. Many sources have attempted to estimate the violence against these women, and some have found the rate of rape to be as high as 60 percent; most likely higher than this in street-level prostitution. Prostitutes have nowhere to turn to when they are violated because they are treated as criminals themselves. Authorities hurt, rather than help them. Prostitutes are also a target for murderers and serial killers because of the anonymity of sexual transactions and the lack of evidence linking a particular person to the crime.

The Moonlite Bunny Ranch glamorizes an exploitative profession

Nevada has legalized prostitution in 11 counties. The rule is that the counties must be less than 400,000 residents leaving the brothels in very remote areas where the prostitutes have little access to resources. Recently, HBO ran a documentary called Cathouse that glamorized prostitution to make it seem that the girls really loved what they did and that they in fact were choosing it as a profession. In reality, the working girls at these brothels see little of the money and the pimps and brothel owners receive most of the money. Within the structure of patriarchy, legalized prostitution does not work in this country. The women are still exploited, and will continue to be until harm-reduction measures are taken. We need to stop treating the female prostitutes like criminals, and instead we need to begin treating them like hunman beings who have human rights.

What can I do now?

There are several websites to further your understanding of prostitution as violence against women, as well as organizations involved in trying to protect these women.

http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/c-prostitution-activism.html

http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/focus/sharp/articles_publications/publications/pledge_20070612

http://www.catwinternational.org/index.php

http://www.polarisproject.org/content/view/50/69/

Here is also a link for various pro/con arguments surrounding the legalization of prostitution:

http://prostitution.procon.org/