Psychological Effects Of Prostitution

Prostitution is a business that involves exchanging sexual favours for money. Though this generates millions of dollars in revenue per year but it is not an ideal job. Very few chose to be in the sex industry while most people are forced into this trade due to poverty, kidnapping, lack of proper education, etc. A prostitute’s career is often rooted and can even begin in their childhood as these individuals are faced with issues which leads to them to work in the sex trade industry. Although many factors are at play, the outlook will focus on how sexual abuse in childhood significantly impacts these individuals as they progress through their lives. Throughout this paper, issues such as the pathways of how these children enter into prostitution, the psychological effects of sexual abuse, and …show more content…
Certainly, no child wishes to become a prostitute. Children can be forced into prostitution by being taken against their will through human trafficking, due to poverty, or be faced with a wide array of issues such as abuse in early childhood that forces them to enter this profession. There have been studies made documenting that “researchers have hypothesized that childhood sexual victimization leads to deviant behaviour, including prostitution” (McClanahan, McClelland, Abram, & Teplin, 1999, para. 3). It is important to note that child sexual abuse is not the only factor in influencing prostitution. Studies have been conducted hypothesizing the different ways these children enter prostitution and according to McClanahan et al., (1999) “family alienation, running away, and familiarity with street culture encourage a wide variety of deviant or criminal acts, including prostitution” (para. 4). In other words, prostitution is not just limited to child sexual abuse but it is the early influence of deviant activity in childhood that fuel a future in