In this assignment I would like analyze modern sex trafficking compared to 19th century prostitution.
In the 19th century, women were unable to support themselves and in desperate situations would willingly partake in prostitution in order to survive or take care of their children. Today, women are still performing this act, as you can openly see on the streets in many large cities around the world. Though this behavior persists, the more discernible issue with prostitution today, is the progression of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery where sexual acts are being induced by force or coercion. The people in control, or their “pimps”, use psychological and physical coercion and bondage, including threats or physical restraint against the women to force them to exploit themselves. The women themselves do not receive any benefit. Most of the women are lured into the business by being promised a good job in another country, by a false marriage proposal, by being sold into the sex trade by parents, husbands, or boyfriends, or by being kidnapped by traffickers.
Today, modern prostitution is dominated by sex trafficking. Young girls and women are being forced into this lifestyle, without a choice to leave, with blatant disregard to their safety or personal moral decisions. This business, being dominantly controlled by men, can be characterized by a business of men exploiting women without their consent, leaving the woman powerless. In the nineteenth century, women willingly gave themselves to a life of prostitution to help support themselves, their children, or as a way to live a ‘fabulous’ life. In a sense, the women had the power to charge men what they wanted, in order to gain wealth for themselves.
Today, is of the contrary.
analyze the assignments short- or long-term value.
In this DIY homework, I chose to compare 19th century prostitution with todays modern-day prostitution. The things I found comparable in this assignment was the variations in the women’s role in prostitution over the century. In the 19th century, women were in control of their fate. Women chose to become prostitutes. I know that statement is vague and can be argued, but in the past, women became prostitutes because they had become a fallen women, gave into temptation, or because they wanted to live a fabulous life. When a women had given herself to a man, she became a fallen women. If that man had chosen to leave her instead of marry her, it was a common option to choose to become a prostitute because your chance at marriage had been significantly decreased. Often, the women had become pregnant while with that man, and now had no form of raising her child. It was impractical in that day for a women to be able to raise their own child alone.
In another case, women who came from poor backgrounds or farming towns sometimes gave themselves to prostitution as well. Women who did not want to struggle, work their hands to the bone to survive, and barely graze by, sometimes decided to become prostitutes so that they could earn their riches and be ‘beautiful’.
Today, women are no longer in control of such fate. Though, of course, there are exceptions to this, women today involved in sex trafficking do not have the choice of whether they would like to join or leave the business. Women are forced into this business by threats, coercion, bondage, and kidnapping. Often, family’s who are effected by a family member being kidnapped, often never find their loved one again. Women no longer have the ability to be in control of the situation and willingly charge a man for his pleasures. Today, men exploit the women, using them for all they are worth while they are valuable to them, without the women ever benefiting from their exploitation.
I believe this assignment’s value to me, short and long-term, is by giving me some great ideas for our gender and media study project. I thought of this idea one random day in class and had written it down. I have been wanting to compare these ideas for some time, and had recently realized that I could also tie this to gender studies as a comparison of the 19th century and modern position. I also believe that this idea will help me in the future because this topic does significantly strike a nerve with me. It also frustrates me that such a large issue seems to have minimal support and awareness in the United States. People believe that this issue is not relevant to America, when more than 100,000 girls are taken every year in the country and sold as sex slaves.
(http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/resource/fact-sheet-sex-trafficking-english).
