Prostitution of sexuality: A cause for new international human rights

Abstract

The social normalization of prostitution, even where it is still illegal, in post-industrial states has led to a legitimization of many dimensions of sexual exploitation. This paper examines the social construction of exploitative sex in the prostitution exchange. The harm of being sexually objectified, a precondition for the prostitution exchange, that is repeated in mostly anonymous sexual contacts over weeks, months, and years, is evident in the split in the self that is constructed to sustain one in prostitution. This research finds that the buying of sex is a specifically gendered human rights violation. Identifying the harm in the social construction of prostituted sex and its normalization explains a significant aspect of the context of sexual exploitation in Western, postindustrial states. This paper further explores how prostitution, as an institution and an industry, is shaped by the socioeconomic development of the state and world region. Trafficking in women, military prostitution, and sex industrialization, are differentiated from normalization of prostitution. New international human rights have been developed by the author working with UNESCO and U.N. nongovernmental organizations to address sexual exploitation individually and globally. The proposed Convention Against Sexual Exploitation is summarized in relation to the macro- and micro-research presented.