I chose the word prostitution to blog about. This has been a major theme in a few of our readings; such as The Ruined Maid and Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Among looking up words on OED.com to decide which to blog about, I found something interesting in this definition. It describes prostitution as 1. The action of prostituting or condition of being prostituted; the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment; (in early use also more generally) licentiousness, lewdness, harlotry. The thing I found interesting, however; was the online dictionary also gave quotations in relation to prostitution from texts, etc. The first set of quotations is under the heading “of woman or girl.” The second set of quotations is under the heading “of a man or boy (esp. with reference to homosexual activity).” I found this interesting because in class we really only talked about woman prostitutes. I always believed that it was because even today when woman have more freedoms, no woman wants to pay a man to sleep with her. Its a lot easier for a woman to pick up a man because men seem to have less values when it comes to random hookups, etc. But more woman say no than men, so men often have to pay for them. Seeing all the references to homosexual prostitution verified this thought. Because male prostitutes are still purchased by men rather than woman, it seems. This is an interesting thought. Maybe because men do have less values when it comes to whom they are sexually active with. They’re willing to pay for it, while women are not. It seems to be proven historically true, as well.
