Prostitution on the Internet Draws More Affluent, Educated Women as Sex Workers
The internet is drawing some affluent, educated women into prostitution, according to research out of the University of Arkansas.
The women, according to the study, aren't desperate, but are rather attracted to the world's oldest profession "for many of the same reasons that people enter the conventional job market - money, stability, autonomy and even job satisfaction," stated author Jennifer Hafer.
In a nutshell, according to an Arkansas statement:
"... Affluent and educated women with strong family backgrounds and access to resources - may be choosing to enter the high-quality illegal prostitution market, via a high-end escort service or through the Internet."
Hard to swallow? For us, yes. The now-famous women Charlie Sheen has been finding online aren't exactly Rhodes Scholars.
The research states that so-called "street walkers" and other allegedly lower-end prostitutes still come from the grittier side of life.
The study says that women who work the street don't chose to do so at all -- they often end up there as a result of coercion and violence. And it says that some with fewer opportunities in life end up in "the low-quality legal market - the brothels in the Nevada counties," according to a summary.
Hafer's conclusions: Maybe we should legalize it:
... Brothel prostitution should be legalized and regulated in expanded locations. Her policy attention to escort and Internet prostitution focused on regulation, such as licensing, health testing and possibly taxation, as a means to ensure safety and security for both the prostitute and the consumer. For the escort and Internet markets to be regulated, they must be legalized.
