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PROSTITUTION
is o thriving business in the Western world. In sorne notions it is legolized ond reguloted, but no notion has
effectively solved the causes of prostitution.
Thomos
Hopker -
Woodfin Comp
&
Asso<iotes
closure, about two hundred "mas–
sage salons" sprouted up, sorne in
exclusive suburbs where they had
never been seen before. In sorne
of them, vi rtually anything was
allowed. Munich now has an esti–
mated 1,400 full-time prostitutes.
In Wcst Germany, sorne 200,000
work full-time as prostitutes, and
every third man between 2 1 and 65
is a regular customer.
fn
Hamburg,
the red light district is called the
Reeperbahn. Twenty-four-hour-a–
day sexual service is provided for all
ma1e visitors (women and children
are not admitted). Two hundred
girls ply their trade at the Eros
Center in the Reeperbahn. Ham–
burg has
1
,200 officially registered
prostitutes.
In England, prostitution itself is
not a criminal offense, but so1icit ing
on the streets has been punishable
by fine since 1959. Pimps, madams,
and others associated with prosti–
tutes are subjected to large fines and
long prison sentences. A large por–
tion of London's estimated 17,000
PLAIN TRUTH July-August 1973
prostitutes are concentrated in the
Soho district.
In Sweden, prostitution is not
considered a crime.
It
is a very mi–
nor problem in Sweden primarily
because premarital sex is wide–
spread.
In the Soviet Union, prostitution
has been officially out1awed. Marx–
ist leaders regard prostitution as a
form of exploitation and a sigo of
Western moral decadence. How–
ever, prostitution has not been en–
tirely eradicated. Occasional articles
in the Soviet press indicate that the
prob1em still exists wherever tourists
are found.
Another major center of prostitu–
tion has been Vietnam. At the
height of the conftict there, Saigon
had more than one hundred illega1
brothels. I n 1969, the senior Ameri–
can military officer recommended
that post exchanges in Vietnam
have their own brothels in order to
reduce the incidence ofvenereal dis–
ease. Gis were contracting V.O. at
the rate of 200 out of every 1,000
soldiers, compared to the United
States rate of 32 out of 1,000, ac–
cording to Charles Winick and
Paul M. Kinsie in
The Lively Com–
merce,
a scholarly report on the
modero prostitution problem. Of
the G l cases of V. D. , about 47 per–
cent involved men who bad con–
tracted it more than once during
their tour of duty.
Why Does Prostitution
Flourish?
What is behind the current up–
swing of prostitution?
In an age of casual sexual liai–
sons, why is commercial sex doing
such a booming business?
States
The Encyclopedia of
Human Behavior: Psychology, Psy–
chiarry, and Mental Health,
"The
factors that produce prostitution
a re, in most cases, similar to those
that produce promiscuity - dis–
organized home life, rejection and
neglect , resentment against parenlS,
association with delinquen! individ–
uals or groups" (Robert M. Gold–
enson, vol. 11, p. 1025).
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