Sex for Sale
Obscenity vs Pornography
• Supreme Court criteria for obscenity
 1.Work as a whole must appear to prurient
interest
 2.Offensive to contemporary community
standards
 3.Without serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value
• Problem - highly subjective
Conflicting studies on the effects of
pornography
• 1970 Commission
• 1998 Commission
• Other studies
1970 Commission on Obscenity and
Pornography
• No significant, long-lasting changes in
behavior
• Recommended repeal of all adult
pornography laws
1998 Meese Commission
• Violent porn
 Causes sexual aggression
 Increases acceptance of rape
• Nonviolent erotica
 Considered destructive of social mores
• Recommended
 Vigorous law enforcement and prosecution of
obscenity
Child pornography
• Internet sting operations are used to locate
and arrest child pornographers
• Computer generated images of children
and adults looking like children are both
legal.
 2002 Supreme Court ruling
Results of other studies
• When repeatedly exposed to pornography, both
sexes became less satisfied with the physical
appeal and sexual performance of their partners.
• Pornography produces unrealistic expectations
 Men are always ready for sex
 Women are highly responsive to any stimulation by
men
• Where pornography Is easily accessible, sexual
crimes tend to be lower
Prostitution
History of prostitution
• Greece (Hetairas) valued for intellectual
companionship
• Prostitution occurred in religious temples
 Kama temples of India
 Temple of Aphrodite
• Considered scandalous but necessary in
the Victorian era.
Prostitution
• Backgrounds of prostitutes
 Extremely varied backgrounds and all walks
of life
 95% of teenage prostitutes have been victims
of sexual abuse.
 35% of New York streetwalkers have HIV
• Customers are
 Middle-aged, middle-class, married men
Brothel prostitution
• House where a group of prostitutes work
• Common in early history of this country
 Seattle seamstress
 Creek street in Alaska
• Owners typically collect about 1/2 of the
prostitute’s fee
• Legal in some counties of Nevada
• Legal in Amsterdam
Decriminalizing prostitution
• Criminal penalties removes
• Women could do what they want with their
bodies
• Association with organized crime might be
weakened
COYOTE
• Come Off Your Old Tired Ethics
• Prostitutes union
• Goal = political change
Prevention of prostitution
• United Nations Commission study of
prostitution
 To prevent prostitution, create other economic
opportunities for women.