wever, is the factor that eases the acceptance by the corporate male conscience of the societal and economic conditions that force many women to make such a choice (Burton, 1985, p. 74).
Prostitution, in the practical context, is a form of service labor. In this marketing arrangement, the prostitute provides sexual services in exchange for monetary compensation by a male customer. Depending upon the specific working conditions of the prostitute, the monetary compensation may be paid directly to the prostitute or to an intermediary.
McIntosh (1979, p. 219) held that prostitution supports existing gender relations within a family system by providing an avenue of sexual activity for males that is free of emotional commitment. This approach to the role of prostitution, however, reinforces the concept of a societal subordination of women, wherein it is the role of women to provide sexual satisfaction to men (McIntosh, 1978, p. 219).
Thus, prostitution must be perceived as a manifestation of both economic factors and social factors. The economic factors place many women in positions where prostitution offers the only hope to maintain an acceptable standard of living. The
social factors place all women in subordinate societal positions to men, and, thus, negate the reality of freedom for women (England and Browne, 1992, pp. 119 121).
Weeks (1989, p. 89) contended that the history of official attitudes toward prostitution has been one of alternating combinations of reform and control. Whether reform or control assumes primacy at any particular period, however, the underlying effect, and possible intent, of such governmental actions has been a perpetuation of a subordinate societal role for women.
Most critics of the practice of prostitution tend to express such criticism in the context of economics; that is, the context of worker exploitation. The concept of worker exploitation, regardless of its validity, places prost...