Which do Feminist find Worse; Rape or Prostitution?

Question

Isn't it true that red light districts were formed so that less women would be raped? Knowing that why don't more women support prostitution?

Answer 1

rape and prostitution are pretty much the same aren't they? very few women choose prostitution, life isn't like "pretty Woman", desperate women become prostitutes they do agree to s*x but it's not really consensual.

Answer 2

Your 'Pretty Woman' 'Happy Hooker' analysis of prostitution plumbs ignorance.  When was the last time you attended a careers advisory session and were offered work as a w***e in a legitimate career path choice? Or, indeed, if your daughter came home from school with her options...do you want to be a doctor, a teacher or a hooker, 20 punters a day, most of the money going to the pimp...oh! no sorry the business person who must take all of your money to pay for their overheads!

As for rape, well, as many of the prostitutes who are working in London for example, are trafficked from Eastern Europe, and forced to work any man having s*x with them has not been given consent, so whatt would you call that?

And no feminist is pro abortion...they are pro choice for women, as if we do not have total autonomy over our own bodies and are able to choose when or whether we have children, we will never be free agents.

And, also if you are arguing that men need brothels because if they did not exist they would become rapists whast do you really think of your own s*x?  Feminists know that rape has nothing to do with sexual attraction..otherwise why do children, or elderly women get raped..?

To be a true devil's advocate one usually has to be a lot more savvy.

Answer 3

"Isn't it true that red light districts were formed so that less women would be raped? Knowing that why don't more women support prostitution?"

If that's true, it's highly misguided. Rape is about power, not about s*x. Besides, many prostitutes are s*x slaves being trafficked.

Answer 4

Yes I agree. Rape is worse than prostitution. The only problem i have with prostitution is that lots of women are still finding themselves in desperate financial and life situations where they are forced to sell their bodies.

If they are doing it for the love of *******, good on them. If they are doing it because they were forced as part of s*x slavery or a poor socio economic environment, then I have problems.

Your right on the money when you say its all about women having the choice to do what they want with their life and their body.

Rape is a total control and domination act which is on par with murder. So yes Definitely rape is far far far worse than prostitution.  

Answer 5

From a feminist point of view, if a woman can make a lot of money for little effort by exploiting a man's weaknesses, then surely this is the ultimate empowerment?

In this respect, such prostitution is not worse or even bad, but a brilliant career if you have the body and the stomach for it.  You are right too in that prostitutes do a very useful service as social workers deflecting the attentions of some men who might otherwise be inclined to rape.

A lot of prostitution is done out of trickery, kidnapping girls and women and forcing them to do it under fear of beatings or worse.  I see not a lot of difference between that and rape, and nor would any feminist.

The third group (and probably the most numerous) are those women who lack the talents to get a proper job, a lot of bills to pay, and precious little money with perhaps loan sharks or drug dealers breathing down their neck for payment.  Prostitution is the most possible way to earn a crust and to keep the wolf from the door.  The equivalent for men is being sent down the mine.

I believe that feminists would consider rape the worse of the two evils, but this example of prositution must support very well their case for better prospects for women to earn a better living.

Answer 6

I'm hard pressed to think of which one is worse. On the one hand, rape is forced on a woman who is unwilling to participate in the s*x, and it's a horrible violation of her body and herself. On the other hand, alot of women who are prostitutes aren't doing it because they chose it, and alot of them get raped and abused regularly. Both are horrific. Both are very harmful to the woman. And I think prostitution should be completely illegal same as rape.

Answer 7

ask a guy that question and see what they say lol

Answer 8

Rape is a crime of violence against another person, prostitution is an economic choice made by some people.

Unless prostitution is forced, rape is obviously much 'worse'.

Having said that, however, it's as well to remember that not all prostitution is willing, and that women and children (particularly) are trafficked around the world by criminal gangs to be used for prostitution without having any choice in the matter.

Red light districts were hardly 'formed' to prevent rape ~ what would prevent rape is if rapists stopped doing it! Unless you think all men who visit prostitutes are rapists?

As for why 'red light districts' came into being, there are various explanations, but most have to do with the conbvenience of the customers or of law enforcement officials, not to prevent 'rape'.

(See link below.)

Cheers :-)

Answer 9

*sigh* another person ignorant about the many different TYPES of feminism.  For example, s*x-positive feminism believes that prostitution should be legal since it is the person's own body and thus their own choice.  One would think that you would do your homework a bit more before making such (ill-informed) assumptions.  

Answer 10

Well of course prostitution if better than rape, however many of these "prostitutes" are not prostitutes but s*x slaves (being raped).  Especially those from foreign countries.  Many are promised citizenship and then never see the light of day.  This is going on in modern nations, this is not just a third world country problem.

However I would be okay with regulated prostitution.  Much like it is in most of Nevada.  Is it something I want my friends and family going to?  No.  I would hope they make meaning relationships with people have have s*x mean something more.  But I am not against regulated and supervised prostitution.

Answer 11

women hate being neglected in the work force far more than rape or prostitution

Answer 12

Rape is definitely worse.

Answer 13

I don't consider myself a feminist in the way that the term is usually meant, but I think rape thousands and thousands of times worse then prostitution.  Prostitution should be legal in my book.  

Answer 14

I don't know, but I think the site in Question Guy's answer is pretty funny.  Not sure how it answers the question here though

Answer 15

Rape is worse.

Disagree with your assertion that red light districts were created to reduce  the incidence of rape.

You are deeply confused if you believe that rape is primarily about s*x.

Rape is primarily about exerting power over another human being, and s*x is merely the vehicle used to do it.  

Answer 16

rape is much worse

Answer 17

I support prostitution. Women should be able to exploit men for money in a safe and secure environment ;-)

Answer 18

Rape is worse.  Red light districts do not affect rape statistics.  Rape is not an act of s*x it is an act of violence.  Of course all rapist can go to prostitutes, they have them in every big city - legal or not legal - but rapists don't want s*x - they want to violate someone.  The victim must be unwilling.  Prostitution does not keep men from raping.  Many rapists are married or have girlfriends and could have s*x at any time.  In their criminal minds there is still a need to rape, despite available s*x.

Answer 19

i dont support either (thou i do support abortion). But rape is WAY WAY worse/.

Answer 20

Feminists object to prostitution only when the market rate is low.  When these girls are making $500 an hour, that's OK.

And then, they're called "s*x industry workers"

Answer 21

Rape is far worse.  

It is a violation against a woman that can never be un-done.

Prostituion is a choice-it is not forced upon anyone.

Answer 22

Why post a question like this...

Women think their both terrible.

Men raping females and women selling themselves for money?

Not a world i had in mind.

Answer 23

In some ways there is a similarity here.

Not all prostitutes choose to be so.

For many it is a matter of Survival or Need for addiction.

Though rape is horrendous and remains with you for Life.  

Answer 24

Who really wants to be a prostitute aside from a nymphomanic? Even women who do it for a living in countries where it is legal only do it because they make more money at it than they would if they worked at an office job or as a waitress. The idea of having s*x with strangers in various stages of cleanliness and who could be carrying an assortment of diseases isn't one that appeals to most women.

Answer 25

First off, I am a feminist and I do support legalized prostitution. I do, however, disagree with your assumption that, unless men have access to women's bodies through prostitution, they must rape. What you (and countless others who buy into this) are saying is that men are incapable of controlling their sexual desires, incapable of giving sexual pleasure to themselves, and that men need women in order to be sexually fulfilled.

This position places men in an extremely weak, needy, and powerless light. It causes one to wonder why men themselves would choose to cling to a false belief that paints men as so fundamentally needy, weak and powerless.

The FACT is that ALL HUMAN BEINGS have the ability to both control their desires and to give themselves sexual pleasure. No person NEEDS access to another person's body in order to have an o****m. Anyone who believes they do has surrendered their most basic power which is the power to control and take responsibility for one's body. Responsibility and control are two sides of the same coin. You cannot legitimately have one without the other.

Often prostitutes (and rape victims) are abused by men who hold these precise (faulty) beliefs. The male sense of powerlessness vis a vis female sexuality leads many men to abuse women to whom they feel a sexual attraction. This has to do with deep seated sexual shame which men experience, but rather than internalize as women often do, they externalize it. The prostitute and rape victim become the target of male rage and shame. Men project onto women their own feelings of dirtiness and powerlessness.

Only when men decide to live their lives as autonomous, powerful beings can men ever hope to release themselves from dependence and the accompanying shame/rage.

While I believe, if we are to embrace capitalism, that people have the right to sell or rent out what belongs to them, prostitution is only "necessary" because men choose to think they need women more than women need men. Incidentally, all patriarchy is a response to this inaccurate belief. While many men experience the ability to hire prostitutes and to rape as "power" it is actually an act of powerlessness on the part of men.

Incidentally, rape does occur in prostitution and often rape is a way in which women "learn" that they have no right to decide who enters their sacred bodies, thus rape is often a gateway to prostitution. s*x work can only be healthy in a world that appreciates sexuality in general. Legalization of prostitution in our current culture only decreases its harm. It does not make it healthy for those involved.

Forced rape can be worse than prostitution which is freely chosen, but often the lines are blurred and the two do not exist in mutual exclusivity. Many prostitutes report feeling as if they are being paid to be "consensually" raped. All the same feelings of shame and powerlessness are possible in prostitution that you find in rape. Moreover, many women do not, in reality, "freely chose" prostitution from among several attractive, attainable options. The vast majority of women who are prostitutes world wide "choose" that profession precisely because they have NO REAL CHOICE. Your whole conceptualization of rape and prostitution are overly simplistic and exhibit an extreme ignorance and lack of understanding on your part.

Answer 26

Rape is worse. I don't have a problem with prostitution if the woman chooses to be a prostitute.

Answer 27

Well I am an equalist but I do not favour either

Answer 28

Because they need to be unionized like they are in Europe (where many prefer to work out of brothels).  In these countries, they are self-employed professionals with a pension plan and all the rest of it.  Places where prostitution are driven underground - and where pimps take advantage of them - are too dangerous.  That would be the case in the USA.  I think its pretty clear that politicians, like society in general, doesn't care what happens to them.  Look at how long Pickton got away with mass murder.

Rape and prostitution have nothing to do with one another.

Answer 29

they are both some of the most disgusting things ever, why would women support prostitution? why don't men go and be the prostitutes they are the ones who buy them right? or should i say rent them? this a disgusting question.  

Answer 30

I'm a feminist and I support prostitution fully, as long as it really is a choice and not forced by circumstance.

Rape is obviously worse, but prostitution is essentially rape if it is forced upon the woman.

Answer 31

I live in a country where prostitution was recently legalised. A friend of mine has a sister who became a heroin addict at 19 years and a prostitute thereafter. She died at 40. Anyone who knew her story would never, ever condone prostitution as a good life choice, not even for a short time