The Oldest Profession

Paper Summary:

The writer of this paper examines the history of the "profession" of prostitution. It looks at the conditions of employment and often exploitation of these women by pimps. The writer asks the question why this issue was never on the agenda for feminist groups and women's rights activists. It looks at the "geisha" system of Japan whereby prostitution is a recognized profession. It compares these attitudes to those in the Western world.

From the Paper:

"Why is it that the job that is often called the world's oldest profession does not have the world's oldest union, or often any form of union representation at all? There is an additional irony to the economic status of the prostitute in today's job market, for although the majority of these "field soldiers" in the sex industry are female, prostitutes are also often underpaid and often exploited in their labors. Why have feminists shown so little concern over the status of prostitutes? After all, the practitioners of the "world's oldest profession" are demonstrable proof that women have, contrary to the popular media debates on the subject if women should work or not, have always worked in some capacity or another. A common defense of women working by feminists is that women's work, like housework, has often been unpaid and invisible, or in the case of professional housecleaning and prostitution, poorly paid and tacitly ignored by society."

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