Causes effects and history of prostitution

Causes effects and history of prostitution Prostitution is listed among the crimes some refer to as victimless or consensual crimes, but research shows that may not be the true picture of prostitution. Before proceeding, we need to define prostitution. Despite of the fact that, prostitution being known as the oldest profession in the history of mankind. The workable definition has proven elusive. From a dictionary we learn that prostitution is the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money. But a prostitute cannot simply be a woman who sells her body, since that was the norm of the society that women will get marriage in order to accomplish home and better life style. Promiscuity has been proposed as another candidate. Medieval canon lawyer Johannes Teutonicus suggested that a woman who had sex with more than 23,000 men should be classified as a prostitute, although, furthermore he says that sexual intercourse with 40 to 60 opposite gender would also be called prostitute. However, promiscuity itself does not turn a woman into a prostitute. Although a vast majority of prostitutes are promiscuous, most people would agree that sleeping around does not amount to prostitution. Hence I define prostitution as systematic sexual violence and oppression against female. Selected national and international research projects and various programs by women have been initiated to address the health burden of violence against women. Such projects have especially focused on the health consequences to women of battering or domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, child sexual abuse and incest, and female genital mutilation (See, for example, World Bank Discussion Papers 255, Violence Against Women: the Hidden Health Burden). In depicting the health effects of such forms of violence against women, these projects attempt to make the violence, harm and human rights violation to women visible. However, a consideration of the dire health consequences of prostitution demonstrates that prostitution not only gravely impairs womens health but it is obviously violence against women. The health consequences to women from prostitution are the same injuries and infections suffered by women who are subjected to other forms of violence. The physical health consequences include: injury (bruises, broken bones, black eyes, concussions). A 1994 study conducted with 68 women in Minneapolis/St.Paul who had been prostituted for at least six months found that 50% of those women had been physically assaulted by their purchasers, and a third of those experienced purchaser assaults at least several times a year. 23% of those assaulted were beaten severely enough to have broken bones. Furthermore, 90% of the women in this study had experienced violence in their personal relationships resulting in miscarriage, stabbing, loss of consciousness, and head injuries (Parriott, Health Experiences of Twin Cities Women Used in Prostitution). Prostitution is physically harmful to women. STDs (including HIV/AIDS, chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, human papilloma virus, and syphilis) are alarmingly high among women in prostitution. Only 15 % of the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study had never contracted one of the STDs, not including AIDS, most injurious to health (chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrheal, herpes). General gynecological problems, but in particular chronic pelvic pain and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), plague women in prostitution. The Minneapolis/St. Paul study reported that 31% of the women interviewed had experienced at least one episode of PID which accounts for most of the serious illness associated with STD infection. Among these women, there was also a high incidence of positive pap smears, several times greater than the Minnesota Department of Healths cervical cancer screening program for low and middle income women. More STD episodes can increase the risk of cervical cancer. Another physical effect of p rostitution is unwanted pregnancy and miscarriage. Other health effects include irritable bowel syndrome, as well as partial and permanent disability. The emotional health consequences of prostitution include severe trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-medication through alcohol and drug abuse; and eating disorders. Almost all the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study categorized themselves as chemically-addicted. Crack cocaine and alcohol were used most frequently. Ultimately, women in prostitution are also at special risk for self-mutilation, suicide and homicide. 46% of the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study had attempted suicide, and 19% had tried to harm themselves physically in different ways, for example, in another survey of 55 victims/survivors of prostitution who used the services of the Council for Prostitution Alternative in Portland, Oregon, 78% were victims of rape by pimps and male buyers an average of 49 times a year; 84% were the victims of aggravated as sault and were thus horribly beaten, often requiring emergency room attention and hospitalization; 53% were victims of sexual abuse and torture; and 27% were mutilated (Documentation available from the Council for Prostitution Alternatives). In developing countries, it has also been estimated that 70 percent of female infertility is caused by sexually transmitted diseases that can be traced back to their husbands or partners (Jodi L. Jacobson, The Other Epidemic, p. 10). Among women in rural Africa, female infertility is widespread from husbands or partners who migrate to urban areas, buy commercial sex, and bring home infection and sexually transmitted diseases. Women in prostitution industries have been blamed for this epidemic of STDs when in reality, studies confirm that it is men who buy sex in the process of migration who carry the disease from one prostitute woman to another and ultimately back to their wives and girlfriends. The movement of abandoned or rejected barren women to urban prostitution has been documented in Niger, Uganda, and the Central African Republic. Numerous studies in Africa and Asia by the World Bank and a number of international research organizations have found that divorced or separated wom en comprise the great majority of prostitutes or semi prostitutes (Jacobson, p. 13). Thus, a major health effect of the mass male consumption of commercial sex and the expansion of sex industries in developing countries is not only a rampant increase in sexually transmitted diseases but an exponential increase in infertility. The further effects of this vicious cycle insure that a whole new segment of women who are abandoned by their husbands due to infertility, are propelled into prostitution for survival. In both developing and industrialized country contexts, current campaigns to control the spread of HIV/AIDS by advocating safe sex for women in prostitution fail to address the blatant inequities between women who are bought for sex and the men who pay for it. Any AIDS strategy based on negotiating condom use between the purchaser of sex and the woman who must supply it assumes symmetry of power that does not even exist between women and men in many personal consensual relationsh ips. If AIDS programs are serious about eradicating AIDS, they must challenge the sex industry. Women in prostitution are targeted as the problem instead of making the sex industry problematic and challenging the mass male consumption of women and children in commercial sex. This is institutionalized when governments and NGOs argue for the medicalization of prostitution when they propose laws on prostitution which subject women to periodic medical check-ups. It is stated that women in the sex industry would be better protected if they submitted, or were required to submit, to health and especially STD screening. The way in which sex industries are responsible for the widespread health problems of women and children is mystified with proposals to implement health checks of women in the industry. No proposals have been forthcoming, from those who would propose both mandatory and voluntary medical surveillance for women in the sex industry, to medically monitor the men who would purchase sex. The same is true with current attempts to medicalize prostitution. No action will stabili ze the sex industry more than legitimating prostitution through the health care system. If medical personnel are called upon to monitor women in prostitution, as part of occupational health safety, we will have no hope of eradicating the industry. Furthermore, from a health perspective alone, it is inconceivable that medicalization of women in the industry will reduce infection and injury without concomitant medicalization of the male buyers. Thus medicalization, which is rightly viewed as a consumer protection act for men rather than as a real protection for women, ultimately protects neither women nor men. As with other forms of violence against women eradicating the health burden of prostitution entails addressing but going beyond its health effects. To address the health consequences of prostitution, the international human rights community must understand that prostitution harms women and that in addition to needing health services; women must be provided with the economic, social and psychological means to leave prostitution. Until prostitution is accepted as violence against women and a violation of womens human rights, the health consequences of prostitution cannot be addressed adequately. Conversely, until the health burden of prostitution is made visible, the violence of prostitution will remain hidden. Once Victor Hugo quotes stated in is novel; We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true. Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Their Advantages Essay -- Cars Energy HEV

Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Their Advantages 'The HEV [Hybrid Electric Vehicle] concept goes back to 1905. On November 23 of that year, American engineer H. Piper filed for a patent on a hybrid vehicle. Piper's design called for an electric motor to augment a gasoline engine'(1, pg 2) and thus, the HEV was born. Hybrid Electric Vehicles, otherwise known as HEVs are vehicles that 'combine the internal combustion engine of a conventional vehicle with the battery and electric motor of an electric vehicle'(2). In this day and age car manufactures are trying to out-compete one another in terms of car features and sales. Technology has come a long way since 1905 but the principle is still the same: to produce hybrid vehicles that not only can compete with standard vehicles in terms of price and available features, but that also offer better mileage and less pollution. One may understand why hybrid vehicles are a good choice, but one may not understand why more auto manufacturers have turned to hybrids instead of electric vehicles. 'HEVs do not share an electric vehicle's main drawback: limited range between chargings. The few thousand electric vehicles on the roads in the U.S' can travel only about 80 miles before their batteries need recharging, which can take anywhere from three to eight hours'(1, pg1). For those who do not wish to be constrained by having to charge up batteries and worry about mileage, HEVs are the next logical choice. There are two different types of hybrid vehicles: parallel and designated series. The following is a good description of each : ?In a series hybrid, the internal combustion engine drives a generator that charges the batteries, whic... ...ent as well. Hybrid vehicles emit significantly less pollutants than do standard cars and trucks and their fuel efficiency is also a positive aspect that can attract consumers who are interested in saving money. As technology advances and hybrid technologies becomes more efficient it seems that the HEV ?could be- - and in fact should be - - the car of the near future?(1). Sources: 1) Online version of Scientific American article, by Wouk, Victor. October 1997. Hybrid Electric Vehicles: http://www.sciam.com/1097issue/1097wouk.html 2) http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/what.html 3) http://www.honda2001.com/models/2001/environment.html 4) http://prius.toyota.com/technology/hybrid.html 5) http://prius.toyota.com/green/index.html 6) http://www.epa.gov/autoemissions/ 7) http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/concept.html

Concert Essay

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at YUANZE UNIVERSITY auditorium in building 6. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because of religious restrictions. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the performers and some of the university students. I went with two friends, who weren’t so eager to go; I had to convince them by telling it would be interesting to see student performers/composers. The first piece was called Oblique/musique composed by Patrick Swanson. This piece instantly stood out among the others because of the instruments involved. The piece was performed by two people: one playing a vibraphone and the other playing a large drum/cymbal/gong. However, the piece also contained prerecorded sounds of static, bass, and an incoherent voice. In this piece the melody was repeated many times. It was similar to the works of John Adams because of its repetitions, background recording, and minimalistic sounds. The second piece was a piano composition called something Afternoon; I didn’t really get the title. This piece had a very relaxing melody and a mild tempo. It was not fast and not slow. It was an experience of a lifetime. I listened to a genre of music I never had listened to. At the concert two people performed already leaving the audience wanting for more. I also noticed that in the back of the auditorium there was a camera crew filming the whole performance. The auditorium was very elegant looking. The majority of the people in the audience were young people in their twenties. That’s what I expected, it being in a college and all. The hall was rather big for such a small performance. It could fit approximately three hundred people and in the performance floor there was a piano a chair for the pianist and a table with a jar and a glass of water. The songs performed in the concert were all mixed up between andante and allegro. Most of the songs went from andante to allegro. It was divided into five acts. Four of the five acts were homophonic and the other act was polyphonic. The performers were dressed very elegantly. There was about thirty people in attendance and they were dressed in there normal attire. Also the majority of the concert was in the dissonant form. Very rarely I saw a consonant song playing. The behavior of the performers was that they were very concentrated in their work. Keeping aware and avoiding all mistakes if possible The pianist was really young for his professionalism, he was really professional, played spectacularly well. He gave the audience feelings of anger, sadness, and joy. The flutist also played brilliantly. Lastly the vocalist was the best part. She had a very high pitched voice sang both high and low parts. Sang both happy and sad parts. Gave the crowd mixed up feelings.

Poetry In Romanticism Period - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 458 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/06/14 Category Art Essay Level High school Tags: Romanticism Essay Did you like this example? Poetry is a style of writing many people used to express themselves during the Romanticism period. In class, we learned about poetry during the Romanticism period and also read a poem called Nature by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This poem has many characteristics of the Romantic literary period. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Poetry In Romanticism Period" essay for you Create order A few of the characteristics that stand out are emotions and the usage of a childrs innocence. Romanticism authors focus more on emotions rather than reason and logic and that is seen throughout this poem. Another strong characteristic seen in this poem is the use of a childrs innocence and wisdom. This also makes this poem strongly identify with the Romantic literary period. An example from the poem in which Longfellow uses childrs innocence is when he says, Leads by the hand her little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor. This part of the poem describes an innocent child being led by his/her mother to bed with mixed feelings about continuing to play with his/her toys verses going to bed. This shows the innocence of a child that can be torn from doing what they want to do compared to having their parents tell them to do the responsible thing. This first half of the poem is a perfect example of the use of the emphasis of childrens innocence and wisdom in the romantic period writing. Longfellow also uses characteristic of emotions and feelings throughout the poem Nature. Emotions and feelings are expressed when Longfellow says So Nature deals with us, and takes away, Our playthings one by one, and by the hand, Leads us to rest so gently, that we go. At this part of the poem Longfellow is expressing how in life and nature as we get ready for death, things are slowly taken away from us to prepare us for the next stage in the cycle of life. In reading this excerpt, you get a strong understanding of how a person may feel as they get ready for death and not knowing what to expect. At this stage one doesnt have all the answers and the emotions must be very intense as you accept that death is the next phase coming. He also ties this back to the child whose toys are taken away when they are getting ready for bed. In conclusion, Longfellowrs poem Nature clearly shows characteristics of the Romantic literary period with his use of emotion/feelings, and childrens innocence/wisdom. Romantic authors believed that childhood is good and emotions drove them to write stories which are expressed with an emotional point of view versus logic. The Romantics believed in following intuition rather than reason, as Longfellow does throughout his poem.