Women in the Sex Industry and Pornography

Women, the Sex Industry & Pornography

Women, the Sex Industry, and Pornography

In the history of humanity, prostitutes / sex workers have been identified as the "oldest" occupation in the world, existing even before the Biblical times. Over the years, the stigma unduly given to sex workers has resulted to it being the oldest yet least respected occupation there is. Furthermore, women involved in the commercial sex industry are considered to be high-risk group when it comes to social and health issues in the community. Women engaged in commercial sex are a manifestation of the moral degradation of the society or community; inevitably, they are also the highly susceptible to acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV / AIDS. Inevitably also, women engaged in commercial sex are also linked with activities involving pornography. Again, like the commercial sex industry, pornography is considered a sign of moral degradation and susceptibility to STIs and HIV / AIDS.

This linkage between the commercial sex industry and pornography and the women involved in these activities indeed demonstrates the social and health risks involved in the activities, but from a human rights perspective, it ultimately results to the degradation of women's status and society's regard to her in the society or community. It creates a social stigma and dysfunction within the society in that women, especially those engaged in commercial sex and pornography, do not deserve society's respect. Women are then objectified and trivialized, looking at them as 'sex symbols' only, meant to be bought and consumed like a commodity. In the discussion that follows, the link between women, commercial sex and pornography are discussed in-depth, with further discussions on how women involved in the sex trade could proactively transform their lives into being active, productive citizens in their society/community.

Researchers have explored conducting a study on the eventual life choices of sex workers, determining if indeed, the risks associated with them lead to a shorter life and/or remaining a sex worker for the rest of one's life. In their study, authors Ward and Day (2006) conducted an occupational cohort (longitudinal) of sex workers between the years 1986 and 1993, followed through for the next 15 years. Three hundred and fifty-four (354) women were originally recruited, but there had been a significant fallout of participants, and at the end of the study, data on 130 participants were obtained and used for the analysis of the study. Majority of the participants are still in the sex industry (with a mean average of working for 14 years). There were 6 deaths. The rest of the sample developed health problems as a result of contracting STIs frequently in the past, such as pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Other health problems that developed involved mental health and drug addiction. However, it is also noteworthy that 37% of the sample was able to obtain vocational or higher education, indicating that indeed, women involved in the sex industry do take their future into account and were able to have control of their lives and make something of themselves apart from just being commercial sex workers.

Another study demonstrated how involvement in the commercial sex industry could actually be changed through socio-economic movements within one's society or country. This was the case of sex workers in at the Caribbean, particularly Curacao. Author Kempadoo (1995) demonstrated how the commercial sex industry that has long thrived in the region were influenced by the economic movements also happening from within. Furthermore, the author also suggests adopting a different perspective when looking at commercial sex workers and the industry they work in. More than anything, they are members of an informal sector that is economically thriving yet socially unacknowledged by the society. Over the years, small-to-medium businesses have gradually increased and have been made available to communities, especially to women. The author has observed that women now have a better option, to adopt a new business instead of continuing with her old 'profession' in the sex industry. Thus, while this informal sector thrives in the Caribbean, there have been changes in the socio-economic landscape of the region that allowed women to have more and better options for earning an income instead of going back to being commercial sex workers (80-1).