Portal:Prostitution
Introduction
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and sometimes a sex worker, but the words hooker and whore are also sometimes used to describe those who work as prostitutes.
Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country), ranging from being an enforced or unenforced crime, to unregulated, to a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. 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.
According to a 2011 report by Fondation Scelles there are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion. (Full article...)
Selected article
The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven unsolved murders of women have been ascribed to the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
A number of the victims—Emma Elizabeth Smith, Martha Tabram, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly, Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, Frances Coles, and an unidentified woman—were prostitutes. The Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, and private organisations such as the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee were involved in the search for the killer or killers. Despite extensive inquiries and several arrests, the culprit or culprits evaded identification and capture. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Featured Article
Selected biography
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John Rykener, also known as Eleanor (fl. 1394), was a 14th-century transvestite sex worker arrested in December 1394 for performing a sex act with another man, John Britby, in London's Cheapside. Although historians tentatively link Rykener to a prisoner of the same name, the only known facts of his life come from interrogation made by the mayor of London. Rykener was questioned on two offences: prostitution and sodomy. Prostitutes were not usually arrested in London during this period, while sodomy was an offence against morality rather than common law, and so pursued in ecclesiastical courts. There is no evidence that Rykener was prosecuted for either crime. Rykener said that he was introduced to sexual contact with men by Elizabeth Brouderer, a London embroideress who dressed him as a woman and may have acted as his procurer. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Featured Article
Did you know?
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- ...that Marthe Richard (pictured) was a former prostitute and spy who worked to make brothels illegal in France?
- ...that Duxton Hill in Singapore used to be a notorious slum area with brothels, opium and gambling dens, but now belongs to a conservation area known as Tanjong Pagar?
- ... that in 1861, brothel proprietor Ann Manley rescued part of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment after it was attacked by a mob in Baltimore?
- ... that Melahat Okuyan, a Turkish female microbiologist and AIDS activist, once proposed the establishment of male brothels for homosexuals and cross-dressers in order to improve public health?
Quotes
| “ | A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that. | ” |
Anniversaries - May
- 9th
- 1914: Birth of Denham Fouts, an American male prostitute, socialite and literary muse. He served as the inspiration for characters by Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Christopher Isherwood and Gavin Lambert.
- 14th
- 1973: Death of Dorothy Baker, also known as Big Dorothy, an American madam in Helena, Montana.
- 26th
- 1956: The Prostitution Prevention Law, which outlawed Prostitution in Japan, was passed by Japan's National Diet
- 27th
- 1835: Birth of Anna Wilson, a pioneer madam in Omaha, Nebraska. When she died she bequeathed her life savings to the City of Omaha, along with her 25-room mansion brothel, which was used as a hospital.
- 1951: Birth of Norma Jean Almodovar, American author and sex workers activist.
- 28th
- 1905: Birth of Sada Abe, a Japanese geisha and prostitute, who erotically asphyxiated her lover and then cut off his penis and testicles and carried them around with her in her kimono.
- 30th
- 1949: The government-run brothel, Campo Alegre, opened in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao in an attempt to concentrate prostitution in one location on the island.
Selected image
Van used to advertise a brothel in Vienna
Legality Map
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- Start a new article. Prostitution is a broad topic, so there will always be plenty of missing articles.
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- Improve main article prostitution to featured status.
- Suggest improvements to this portal here
Recognised content
Featured (13)
Good (18)
- Mah Laqa Bai
- Butters' Bottom Bitch
- Child prostitution
- Elizabeth Cresswell
- Casey Donovan
- Dumas Brothel
- Andrea Dworkin
- Natasha Falle
- Kanhopatra
- Caroline Lacroix
- Ipswich serial murders
- National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
- Neaira (hetaera)
- Salon Kitty
- She Has a Name
- Soho
- Valerie Solanas
- Three Sisters Tavern
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