Cruz, Marisse Clarichelle Yra U.

December 9, 2014

Daza, Riza F.

Mr. Tan

3DAC

How does prostitution managed to survive throughout time?

What particular sociological perspective that would best explains and supports your theory?

Prostitution is the practice of participating in sexual activity in exchange for payment.

From the explanation itself, it can be entailed that prostitution is ones way of receiving
compensation for the service of using own body rendered upon the other. Despite of it being
considered as immoral and illegal for some, prostitution is one of the oldest existing careers in
the world. It has managed to survive throughout time primarily because of the mutualbeneficial relationship that can be derived from it. Prostitution would have not been prevalent if
it had never attended ones interest.

It is undoubtedly apparent that prostitution has been an issue all over the world over
the past years. This topic has been debated greatly because of the issues linked with it. In the
first question stated above, regarding how prostitution is still widely practiced or being done is
maybe because of the fact that both man and woman who are engaged in that kind of activity
earns benefit from it that it somehow compensates to the wrongful act done. A certain
sociological perspective can best explain why prostitution still exists over time; it is called the
functionalist approach.

Sociological perspective is a point of view on human behavior and its connection to

society as a whole. It shows us the relationship between the behaviour of individual people and
the society they live in. This sociological perspective let us conceive how far the society affects
or shapes an individuals behavior. In line with this, there are three widely used perspectives
which are: functionalist approach, conflict approach, and interactionist approach.

Functionalist Approach is a sociological approach which gives emphasis on the way that
parts of a society are structured to maintain its validity. So how can this really explain and
support the theory? Basically, functionalist approach states that prostitution somehow gratifies

the said needs of people that are not yet ready for formal commitments such as marriage. We
can relate functionalist approach through market where in there is an interaction between a
buyer and seller to satisfy each others needs. The buyers need is the thing bought or service
rendered to him and the sellers needs is the payment of money given to him for the traded
thing or the rendered service. Likewise, in the aspect of prostitution where in if being related to
market, the prostitute serves as the seller and the one who wants to be rendered service such
as sex can be related to the buyer. The prostitute makes a living through her job rendering
service to the one who receives sex, without any responsibility of commitment or any idea of
procreation.

Many had wondered or still are wondering why does prostitution still spread across the
world? For a person using a functionalist approach, prostitution still exists simply because it
satisfies sexual needs that are not able to be met elsewhere. Kingsley Davis once said that in
societies which have restrictive norms governing sexual conduct, prostitution will always exist
because it serves important functions: (1) it provides immediate and impersonal sexual
gratification that provides no-strings-attached kind of relationship and does not require
emotional attachment with another person (2) it gives a sexual outlet for men who do not have
current sexual relationships because they: are bachelors, have hectic schedule and heavy
workloads, have difficulty in building sexual relationships, cannot find long-term partners,
have a broken relationship, and are simply curious, (3) it provides people the opportunity to
engage in sexual practices that regular sex partners or spouses may view as immoral; and (4) it
benefits the economy by people with limited formal education and job skills who do this for a
living. With this, it can be concluded that by encountering such needs, prostitution form as a
social control over sexual behavior. Some even say that one of its advantages is that it helps
bring down the number of rapes and sexual assault for any given society.

There are numerous reasons that drive prostitution, mainly in terms of financial
bearing. One of the reasons why this approach is deemed to be best to explain and support the
underlying theory is because it describes how society achieves stability. Every part of society is
involved for the stability of the whole. Through this approach, it can be inferred that the one
who uses own body for prostitution sees it as a line of work or profession, while the other who
favors the act of prostitution views this as a means of attending to own demand. The prostitute

earns through selling of own body for sexual relations to the respective partner who is willing to
pay for the work of pleasure given by the hired prostitute. There is an act of exchanging to
satisfy both parties needs, thus performing stability in between. If one experiences instability,
that particular party must adjust to recover stability.