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 the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker, putana, or whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to 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
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Dumas_Brothel%2C_Butte%2C_Montana.jpg/120px-Dumas_Brothel%2C_Butte%2C_Montana.jpg)
The Dumas Brothel was a bordello in Butte, Montana. The brothel was founded by French Canadian brothers Joseph and Arthur Nadeau in 1890 and named after the nominal owner, Delia Nadeau, née Dumas, who was Joseph's wife. It grew considerably through the years, with the miners employed by the city's copper mines often patronizing the establishment. After several changes of the "madams" and continuing pressure from authorities, the brothel closed in 1982, described as "a rare, intact commentary on social history". At the time of its closure, it was the longest operating brothel in the United States, having operated years after prostitution was made illegal. After closing, the brothel changed hands several times, eventually becoming a tourist attraction owned and managed by a series of Butte residents. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Good Article
Selected biography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Natasha_Falle_speaking.jpg/200px-Natasha_Falle_speaking.jpg)
Natasha Falle (born 1973) is a Canadian professor at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada who was forcibly prostituted from the ages of 15 to 27 and now opposes prostitution in Canada. Falle grew up in a middle-class home and, when her parents divorced, her new single-parent home became unsafe, and Falle ran away from home. At the age of 15, Falle became involved in the sex industry in Calgary, Alberta.
Falle's pimp kept her falsely imprisoned and trafficked her across the country. He married her and tortured her, breaking several of her bones and burning her body. In order to cope with the trauma of prostitution and violence, Falle became dependent on cocaine and almost died. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Good Article
Did you know?
![The Medieval Merchant's house, Southampton](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Medieval_Merchant%27s_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_166280.jpg/120px-Medieval_Merchant%27s_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_166280.jpg)
- ... that the Medieval Merchant's House (pictured) in Southampton was being used as a brothel when bomb damage during the Blitz revealed the building's important medieval architecture?
- ...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 the Lester Apartments in Seattle, originally intended to be the world's largest brothel, were destroyed when a B-50 Superfortress crashed into it in 1951?
- ... that the World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights, adopted in 1985, calls for the right to unemployment insurance and decriminalization of adult prostitution?
Quotes
“ | Prostitution is not a monolith. The newspapers use the plight of the most vulnerable women to symbolize the entire field, ignoring the diversity of the sex-worker community. | ” |
Anniversaries - June
- 1st
- 2015: Paying for sex in Northern Ireland became illegal by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 coming into force.
- 2nd
- 1975: Occupation of Saint-Nizier church by Lyon prostitutes. The event is commemorated annually on 2 June as International Whores' Day.
- 4th
- 1998: The Swedish Riksdag passed The Kvinnofrid law, which criminalised the buying of sex.
- 9th
- 1849: Death of Phoebe Doty, an American prostitute and madam who owned several brothels in New York.
- 15th
- 1943: Birth of Xaviera Hollander, a Dutch call girl, madam, and author, best known for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.
- 25th
- 1910: The United States introduced the Mann Act, which made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose"
- 28th
Selected image
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Prostata_Prostitute.jpg/300px-Prostata_Prostitute.jpg)
Man negotiating with a sex worker in Amsterdam's De Wallen (Red-light district).
Legality Map
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Prostitution_in_Europe.svg/300px-Prostitution_in_Europe.svg.png)
Subcategories
Related portals
Need help?
![WikiProjects](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Portal_blue_question_a.svg/50px-Portal_blue_question_a.svg.png)
Do you have a question about Portal:Prostitution to which you can't find the answer?
Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
Get involved
![WikiProjects](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Community.png)
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Portal:Prostitution-related articles, see WikiProject Sexology and sexuality/Sex work task force.
Here are some tasks you can do:
- Start a new article. Prostitution is a broad topic, so there will always be plenty of missing articles.
- Clean up existing articles. A lists of articles needing cleanup is available here.
- Expand an existing article. Existing articles are often incomplete and missing information on key aspects of the topic. Stubs can be found in Category:Stub-Class Sex work articles.
- Discuss. Get involved in discussions on prostitution related articles, a current listing is available here
- 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
Subtopics
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus