Is Prostitution A Profession?
On Change.org’s “End Human Trafficking” blog, Amanda Kloer argues that invoking the phrase “the oldest profession in the world” to refer to prostitution hurts women and girls. “I can’t even say it’s just lazy, since this goes a step beyond lazy. It’s quite simply, bullshit,” she writes. “The ‘oldest profession’ argument esentially says, we know that prostitution exists and is harmful to women and girls, but we’re not going to do anything about it, because we don’t think we can.”
Given the history of prostitution, is “the oldest profession” even accurate? A profession, Wikipedia tells me, is marked by autonomy, status, prestige, and power. These are attributes that some prostitutes, pimps, and madams have. They’re also attributes that some prostitutes have historically lacked—especially way back at the origins of the practice.
Wikipedians also submit that professions are often marked by “gender inequality”—an attribute which prostitution would probably satisfy. For the most part, though, I think that using the term “profession” to describe the origins of prostitution often washes sex work of the violence, slavery, and coersion that has marked its past (and continue today).
So, was the “oldest profession” a true profession back when it began?
* Sumerian prostitution lacked payment:
One of the first forms is sacred prostitution, supposedly practiced among the Sumerians. In ancient sources (Herodotus, Thucydides) there are many traces of sacred prostitution, starting perhaps with Babylon, where each woman had to reach, once in their lives, the sanctuary of Militta (Aphrodite or Nana/Anahita) and there have sex with a foreigner as a sign of hospitality for a symbolic price.
* Roman prostitution lacked autonomy:
In ancient Rome, there were some commonalities with the Greek system; but as the Empire grew, prostitutes were often foreign slaves, captured, purchased, or raised for that purpose, sometimes by large-scale “prostitute farmers” who took abandoned children. Indeed, abandoned children were almost always raised as prostitutes
* Prostitution in the Middle Ages lacked status:
During the Middle Ages, prostitution was commonly found in urban contexts. Although all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage were regarded as sinful by the Roman Catholic Church, prostitution was tolerated because it was held to prevent the greater evils of rape, sodomy, and masturbation (McCall, 1979). Augustine of Hippo held that: “If you expel prostitution from society, you will unsettle everything on account of lusts”. The general tolerance of prostitution was for the most part reluctant, and many canonists urged prostitutes to reform.
* Indian prostitution lacked power:
While in the 19th century the British in India began to adopt the policy of social segregation, they still kept their brothels full of Indian women.[77] In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a network of Chinese and Japanese prostitutes being trafficked across Asia, in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and British India, in what was then known as the “Yellow Slave Traffic”.
* Israeli prostitution lacked gender inequality!:
Prostitution was common in ancient Israel, despite being tacitly forbidden by Jewish Law. Within the religion of Canaan, a significant portion of temple prostitutes were male. It was widely used in Sardinia and in some of the Phoenician cultures, usually in honour of the goddess ‘Ashtart. Presumably under the influence of the Phoenicians, this practice was developed in other ports of the Mediterranean Sea, such as Erice (Sicily), Locri Epizephiri, Croton, Rossano Vaglio, and Sicca Veneria. Other hypotheses include Asia Minor, Lydia, Syria and the Etruscans.
Photo by David Sifrey
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10:00 am
other non-professions by your (And her) standards
-migratory farm laborers
-most factory positions outside of the first world.
-any farming close to or at subsistence level
so basically you are saying if a “profession” is shitty enough it does not count. yes it sucks being a prostitute, but it sucks doing lots of things, and some things are even worse than selling your body.
10:16 am
“it sucks doing a lot of things” isn’t an excuse for ignoring them. building them up as “professions” — i.e. saying they afford power, status, and autonomy — is tantamount to ignoring them.
just to clarify, Kloer didn’t go into a discussion of what is or isn’t a profession; I used Wikipedia’s definition.
12:19 pm
So do you disdain sex workers or just sex work?
The word’s origin is Latin, “to declare publically.” In that sense, if one says it is their profession, then it is. Most folks today, however, might draw a distinction between a professional (someone who makes a living at it) and an amateur (one who dabbles on the side)–the divide established by committment, skill and client goodwill.
i must say… to imply that someone’s vocation is not valid smells of many things… imperialism (is it for you to decide what someone else can do with their body?), paternalistic (assumes your values are appropriate for others), short-sighted (not all sex workers are ignorant, desperate, street hookers), and indeed sexist (”prostitution hurts women and girls.” Does it hurt male sex workers?)
Indeed, sex work can be dangerous–particularly those lacking a temperament to maintain psychological balance in such a profession, and/or those engaging with dangerous clients.
Whether a particular sex worker’s practice is harmful to them depends on who they are, their work circumstances and so forth; not on some categorical assertion by a blogger.
I would also note that your selective research undermines your argument. You speak nothing of skilled courtesans and other so-called “high-class” escorts, or even marriage itself (women were property until recent times).
1:30 pm
I don’t disdain sex workers or sex work, and I think prostitution should be legalized. I do, however, disdain those who coerce (or enslave) women, men, and particularly children into any profession, particularly one that can be violent and traumatizing.
Of course prostitution has hurt men (in the history of prostitution, young boys were often used as prostitutes). Amanda Kloer’s blog is the one that argued it hurt women and girls, so you’d have to ask her if she thinks it hurts men, too.
I did say that many prostitutes, madams, and pimps hold jobs that are accompanied by status, autonomy, and power (the attributes of a profession)! My point is that in the history of prostitution, those attributes have frequently NOT accompanied the practice, particularly at its origins. Those are the examples I’ve used here. If prostitution is going to persist in being called the “oldest profession,” doesn’t it make sense to question whether the oldest prostitutes were professionals, or whether they were in fact slaves?
You’re right about the “skilled courtesans and other so-called ‘high-class’ escorts” being professionals. Not all prostitutes have been afforded such power, status, and autonomy.
I have never, ever defended the institution of marriage.
2:15 pm
Sex workers and sex slaves are not the same thing, though they are both engaged in the same labor.
Just as construction workers and the ankle-chained brown-skinned folks who constructed the south are not the same thing.
There have likely always been persons who recognize that they can exploit their sexuality for profit, just as their have likely always been persons who recognize that they can exploit their other skills for profit.
1:10 pm
Whenever anyone says “…the oldest profession…” to me, I say, “…Farming?”
2:27 pm
To the question ‘Is it a profession?’, the answer is ‘not really’. It’s more an ‘activity’ that one can be paid for or at the most, a ’service’ that can be provided in exchange for payment or barter.
I can pay my lawn guy 50 bucks a pop (what he charges) to cut and rake my yard. I could pay the neighborhood kid half that for probably half the quality. I’m still getting the grass cut either way.
Don’t know what determines when grass cutting and raking turns into lawn care maintenance besides whether the grasscutter has a business name/license or not. Same for Prostitution…what’s the determining factor?