Like other social facts, why does prostitution thrive in the face of extreme social condemnation, and why does a practice which violates existing moral, customary, religious, and other social rules exhibits such veritable vitality? Why have prohibitive rules been incapable of constituting a dissuading force to personnel of the profession and others contemplating entry?

Even in social organisations where the practice is stringently outlawed and excites the gravest form of social repression, prostitution still displays a phenomenal resilience, subsisting in the face of overriding threat of punishment. To unravel the perplexity surrounding this immutable profession, we shall conduct this analysis from two different perspectives.

(1)The Sociological Perspective

By our physiological constitution as humans, erotic gratification forms a part of our make-up. To obtain this gratification, sexual institutions operate within any social organisation as outlets for the expression of such erotic gratification. However, by the mores operating within the society, these sexual institutions are viewed differently and sanctioned accordingly with respect to the predominant values of the society.

Of all the sexual institutions, marriage and its subsidiary patterns (courtship and concubinage) “constitute the chief cultural arrangement through which erotic expression is held,' although marriage remains the most legitimate outlet for such expression.

Consistent with this therefore, if an individual obtains sexual gratification from courtship or concubinage, the practice though disapproved of, is nonetheless tolerated. If the individual already mated to another seeks erotic expression from another individual other than his mate, the act is seriously condemned because it is considered inimical or disruptive to the institutional order for which he is a part.

What if the individual seeks erotic gratification from an outlet detached from approved sexual institutions, and where the extent of his gratification is measured by his bargaining power or his reward other than emotional attachment which is a basic feature of socially approved sexual institutions? In other words, how does society view the individual who uses sexual stimulation or charms “for ends that are non-sexual”?

Apparently, by society's evaluation such individual is held in high disrepute; for by gradation, the institution in which he operates lies at the bottom pile of all sexual institutions which is held in derogation because of its ephemeral, mercenary, and indifferent nature. If this assertion holds true, why then does a practice eliciting such extreme social censure and personal derogation exhibit such profoundly inimitable vivacity? Without doubt, there could only be one reason - prostitution performs an indispensable social utility or function.

Why is prostitution desirable?

If we imagined a society without prostitutes, (which is utterly impossible anyway) such imagination must be consistent with a society where conditions are equal for all individuals. This means: equal access, equal means, equal opportunities, equal abilities, equal wealth, etc. Since such a condition is unattainable even in a communist society, the concept of dominance which itself is a product of inequality must stimulate other forces to compel the individual to express his sexual needs in institutions other than that approved by society.

Now, even if such a state of absolute equality was attainable, to be able to extinguish prostitution from the social formation, erotic gratification must be obtained solely within sexual institutions approved by society. In other words, an individual must seek erotic expression only through marriage, courtship or concubinage.

However, the defects of person and the lack of certain personal or physical attributes may hinder certain individuals attaining the desirability required to function in these sexual institutions. The words of Kingsley Davis in his article The Sociology of Prostitution may further illuminate this view. He wrote:

…all men are not born handsome nor all women beautiful. Instead there is a perfect gradation from extremely attractive to extremely unattractive, with an unfavourable balance of the old and ugly. This being the case, the persons at the wrong end of the scale must, and inevitably will, use extraneous means to obtain gratification.” (emphasis mine)

And which better means could the individual obtain his erotic expression. Should he be denied access to prostitutes, the only extraneous means available to him, having been denied his influence, authority and dominance in a society where all persons are equal, would be the use of force and fraud for the fulfillment of a desire which is inalienably composed in his physiological constitution.

Now back to reality. Who are the ones who patronize prostitutes? Is it the poor, the ugly, the unmarried or the undesirable? Contrary to misperceptions that it is these groups who obtain the services of prostitutes, it is in fact the married and many others in stable relationships who sustain the profession in its flourishing state.

Since it is the purchasing power that determines the extent of the individual's satisfaction, the buyer seeking extreme fulfillment, may depending on his financial power obtain to his desire a degree of satisfaction which would otherwise not be available to him in his conventional, mundane, and monotonous sexual institution.

Moreover, the gradation of prostitution is always in line with the ecological or economic niche in which the prostitute operates. Therefore, if the prostitute allegedly operating at Soldier Bar charges a maximum of GH? 4.00 for an act, it is only reflective of the ecological niche in which she operates, and not that she is awfully cheap or lousy.

Is prostitution driven by economic need?

Now to the assertion that poverty is what drives prostitution. While this may partially be true, to tie prostitution down to solely economic causes is to belie reality. Even if we assumed poverty as the one and only cause of prostitution, assuming again that a significant economic or financial progression in society leads to the creation of alternative means of employment for girls in the trade, would many girls not leave the trade and render the profession momentarily undesirable? Yet, with this resulting scarcity of prostitutes, the other factors that interplay with the economic causes would inevitably raise the demand occasioned by the diminishing supply of prostitutes.

This would invariably increase the “effective demand in the form of price”, so that many other girls who had given up the profession for other jobs and many others who had not encountered prostitution may be enticed to take a shot at the resulting economic boom. In the end there may be much more prostitutes than ever before.  Continued    Source: Emmanuel Opoku Acheampong, a student of Law @ KNUST eoacheampong@yahoo.co.uk - Ghanaian Chronicle