itutes and all others who provide labor services in the same category. This approach is consistent with Marxist economic theory that views the capitalist economy as an exploiter of labor. Pateman (1988, p. 201) criticizes this concept of prostitution, however, on the grounds that such an approach ignores the question of the societal subordination of females.
Barry (1979, p. 10) contends that a consideration of prostitution as economic exploitation is based on a set of false assumptions. To the contention that prostitution is an economic alternative for women, Barry (1979, p. 10) retorts that such an assumption overlooks the fact that pimps take most of the money earned by prostitutes. Barry's observation, however, is based on a narrow perspective of prostitution that is limited primarily to the United States. To the contention that only lowerclass or
poor women of ethnic minority population groups turn to prostitution, Barry (1979, p. 10) points to white, middleclass, teenaged runaways practicing prostitution. Both Barry and those
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