Violence

Open Access: No.

Abstract

We interviewed 854 people currently or recently in prostitution in 9 countries (Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United States, and Zambia), inquiring about current and lifetime history of sexual and physical violence. We found that prostitution was multitraumatic: 71% were physically assaulted in prostitution; 63% were raped; 89% of these respondents wanted to escape prostitution, but did not have other options for survival. A total of 75% had been homeless at some point in their lives; 68% met criteria for PTSD. Severity of PTSD symptoms was strongly associated with the number of different types of lifetime sexual and physical violence.

Our findings contradict common myths about prostitution: the assumption that street prostitution is the worst type of prostitution, that prostitution of men and boys is different from prostitution of women and girls, that most of those in prostitution freely consent to it, that most people are in prostitution because of drug addiction, that prostitution is qualitatively different from trafficking, and that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution would decrease its harm.

Relevance

“The responses of our participants suggest that pornography is integral to prostitution.” Furthermore, across all the countries survey, almost half of all prostituted women reported being upset by attempts to “coerce them into imitating pornography” and half again “reported pornography was made of them” while they were in prostitution.

“Our findings from 9 countries on 5 continents indicate that the physical and
emotional violence in prostitution is overwhelming”, including:

• 95% of those in prostitution experienced sexual harassment which in the United States would be legally actionable in a different job setting.
• 65% to 95% of those in prostitution were sexually assaulted as children.
• 70% to 95% were physically assaulted in prostitution.
• 60% to 75% were raped in prostitution.
• 75% of those in prostitution have been homeless at some point in their lives.
• 89% of 785 people in prostitution from nine countries wanted to escape prostitution.
• 68% of 827 people in several different types of prostitution in 9 countries met criteria for PTSD; the severity was the same as treatment-seeking combat veterans, battered women seeking shelter, rape survivors, and refugees from state-organized torture

“There is widespread misinformation about prostitution, based on propaganda that neutralizes the harms described above and which is disseminated by organizations that present prostitution as legitimate, if unpleasant, labor (“sex work”).”

Citation

Farley, M., Cotton, A., Lynne, J., Zumbeck, S., Spiwak, F., Reyes, M. E., Alvarez, D. A., & Sezgin, U. (200419). Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries: An Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Trauma Practice, 2(3–4), 33–74. https://doi.org/10.1300/J189v02n03_03