A
person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and is a kind of sex worker. Prostitution is one of the branches of the sex industry. The legal status of prostitution varies
from country to
country (sometimes
from region to region within a given country), ranging from being permissible
but unregulated, to an enforced or unenforced crime, or a regulated profession.
It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest
profession". For the origin
of the phrase see Oldest
profession (phrase). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by
prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion.
Prostitution occurs in a variety of
forms. Brothels are establishments specifically
dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at
the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the
escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort
(in-call). Another form is street prostitution. Although the majority of
prostitutes are female with male clients, there are also gay male prostitutes,
lesbian prostitutes, and heterosexual male prostitutes. Sex tourism refers
to traveling to engage in sexual relations with prostitutes. Some rich clients
may pay for long-term contracts that may last for years.
Prostitute is derived from the Latin prostituta. Some sources cite
the verb as a composition of "pro" meaning "up
front" or "forward" and "situere", defined as
"to offer up for sale".Another explanation is that prostituta is a composition of pro and statuere (to cause to stand, to station, place
erect). A literal translation therefore is: "to put up front for
sale" or "to place forward". The Online Etymology Dictionary
states, "The notion of 'sex for hire' is not inherent in the etymology,
which rather suggests one 'exposed to lust' or sex 'indiscriminately offered.'"
The word prostitute was then carried down through various
languages to the present-day Western society. Most sex worker activists groups reject the word prostitute and since the late 1970s have used the
term sex worker instead. However, sex worker can also mean anyone who works within
the sex industry or whose work is of a sexual nature and is not limited solely
to prostitutes
A
variety of terms are used for those who engage in prostitution, some of which
distinguish between different types of prostitution or imply a value judgment
about them. Common alternatives for prostitute include escort and whore; however, not all
professional escorts are prostitutes.
The English word whore derives from the Old English word hōra, from the Proto-Germanic *hōrōn (prostitute), which derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂- meaning "desire", a root
which has also given us Latin cārus (dear), whence the French cher (dear, expensive) and the Latin cāritās (love, charity). Use of the word whore is widely considered pejorative, especially in its modern slang form of ho. In Germany, however, most
prostitutes' organizations deliberately use the word Hure (whore) since they feel that prostitute is a bureaucratic term. Those seeking
to remove the social stigma associated with prostitution often promote
terminology such as sex worker,commercial sex worker (CSW), tantric engineer (coined by author Robert Anton Wilson), or sex trade worker. Another
commonly-used word for a prostitute is hooker.
Although a popular etymology connects "hooker" with Joseph Hooker, a Union general in the American Civil War, the word more likely
comes from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry
terminal of the Corlear's Hook area
of Manhattan in the 1820s, who came to be referred
to as "hookers". A streetwalker solicits customers on the streets or
in public places, while a call girl makes
appointments by phone, or in recent years, through email or the internet.
Correctly or not, use of the word prostitute without specifying a sex may commonly
be assumed to be female; compound terms such as male prostitution or male escort are therefore often used to identify
males. Those offering services to female customers are commonly known as gigolos; those offering
services to male customers are hustlers or rent
boys.
Organizers of prostitution may be
known as pimps (if male) and madams or Mama-san (if female). More formally, one who is
said to practice procuring is a procurer,
or procuress.
The clients of prostitutes are also
known as johns or tricks in North America and punters in the British Isles. These slang terms are used among both
prostitutes and law enforcement for persons who solicit prostitutes. The
term john may have originated from the frequent
customer practice of giving one's name as "John", a common name inEnglish-speaking countries,
in an effort to maintain anonymity. In some places, men who drive around red-light districts for the purpose of soliciting
prostitutes are also known askerb crawlers.
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