Prostitution in the United States
Encyclopedia
Prostitution in the United States is illegal except in some small rural communities in Nevada. In the United States
, each state has the power to regulate prostitution
in that state. Only in parts of Nevada
is prostitution legal. In all other states prostitution is usually classified as a misdemeanor
.
Nevada
allows licensed brothels only in some rural counties. Only 8 counties have active brothels. All forms of prostitution are illegal in Clark County
(which contains Las Vegas
and its metropolitan area), Washoe County
(which contains Reno
), Carson City, Douglas County
, and Lincoln County
. The other counties allow brothels, but some of these counties currently have no active brothels.
Prostitution is considered by some US governments to be a public order crime
, a crime that disrupts the order of a community. It was at one time considered to be a vagrancy
crime.
As with other countries, prostitution in the United States can be divided into three broad categories: street prostitution, brothel prostitution, and escort prostitution.
who followed the Continental Army served the soldiers and officers as sexual partners. Prostitutes were a worrisome presence to army leadership, particularly because of the possible spread of venereal diseases. Some, however, encouraged the presence of prostitutes to keep troop morale high.
s catered to upper class clientele, while bawdy houses catered to the lower class. At concert saloon
s, men could eat, listen to music, watch a fight, or pay women for sex. Over 200 brothels existed in lower Manhattan
. Prostitution was illegal under the vagrancy laws, but was not well-enforced by police and city officials, who were bribed by brothel owners and madams. Attempts to regulate prostitution were struck down on grounds that it is against the public good. Seventy-five percent of New York men had some type of sexually transmitted disease
.
The gold rush
profits of the 1840s to 1900 attracted gambling, crime, saloons, and prostitution to the mining towns of the wild west. Widespread media coverage of prostitution occurred in 1836, when famous courtesan Helen Jewett
was murdered, allegedly by one of her customers. The Lorette ordinance of 1857 prohibited prostitution on the first floor of buildings in New Orleans. Nevertheless, prostitution continued to grow rapidly in the US, becoming a 6.3 million-dollar business in 1858, more than the shipping
and brewing industries combined.
By the US Civil War, Pennsylvania Avenue
had become a disreputable slum known as Murder Bay, home to an extensive criminal underclass and numerous brothels. So many prostitutes took up residence there to serve the needs of General Joseph Hooker
's Army of the Potomac
that the area became known as "Hooker's Division." Two blocks between Pennsylvania and Missouri Avenues became home to such expensive brothel
s that it was known as "Marble Alley."
In 1873, Anthony Comstock
created the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
, an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public. Comstock successfully influenced the United States Congress
to pass the Comstock Law
, which made illegal the delivery or transport of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" material and birth control
information. In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act of 1875
that made it illegal to transport women into the nation to be used as prostitutes.
In 1881, the Bird Cage Theatre opened in Tombstone, Arizona
. It included a brothel in the basement and 14 cribs suspended from the ceiling, called cages. Famous men such as Doc Holliday
, Bat Masterson
, Diamond Jim Brady, and George Hearst
frequented the establishment.
In the late 19th century, newspapers reported that 65,000 white slaves existed. Around 1890, the term "red-light district
" was first recorded in the United States. From 1890 to 1982, the Dumas Brothel
in Montana was America’s longest-running house of prostitution.
New Orleans city alderman Sidney Story wrote an ordinance in 1897 to regulate and limit prostitution to one small area of the city, "The District", where all prostitutes in New Orleans must live and work. The District, or Storyville
, became the most famous area for prostitution in the nation. Storyville at its peak had some 1500 prostitutes and 200 brothels.
In 1918, the Chamberlain-Kahn Act gave the government the power to quarantine any woman suspected of having a Sexually transmitted disease
(STD). A medical examination was required, and if it revealed an STD, this discovery could constitute proof of prostitution. The purpose of this law was to prevent the spread of venereal diseases among U.S. soldiers. During World War I
, Storyville
was shut down to prevent VD transmission to soldiers in nearby army and navy camps.
Mortensen vs. United States, in 1944, ruled that prostitutes could travel across state lines, if the purpose of travel was not for prostitution.
In 1967, New York City eliminated license requirements for massage parlor
s. Many massage parlors became brothels. In 1970, Nevada began regulation of houses of prostitution. In 1971, The Mustang Ranch
became Nevada's first licensed brothel, eventually leading to the legalization of brothel prostitution in ten of seventeen counties of the state. In time, Mustang Ranch became Nevada's largest brothel, with more revenue than all other legal Nevada brothels combined.
In the early 20th century, widespread use of phones made call girls possible. This took prostitutes indoors and off the streets. They give their phone numbers on cards to customers.
By World War II
, prostitutes had increasingly gone underground as call girl
s.
Conditions for sex trade workers changed considerably in the 1960s. The Combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved in 1960 for contraceptive use in the United States. "The Pill" helped prostitutes prevent pregnancy.
In 1971, famous New York madame Xaviera Hollander wrote The Happy Hooker: My Own Story, a book that was notable for its frankness at the time, and considered a landmark of positive writing about sex. Carol Leigh
, a prostitute's rights activist known as the "Scarlot Harlot," coined the term "Sex worker" in 1978. That same year, the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
opened. It was based on the real-life Texas Chicken Ranch
brothel. The play was the basis for the 1982 movie starring Dolly Parton
and Burt Reynolds
.
COYOTE
, formed in 1973, was the first prostitute's rights group in the U.S. Other prostitute's rights groups formed, such as: FLOP, HIRE, and PUMA.
In 1997, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss
was convicted in connection with her prostitution ring with charges including pandering and tax evasion. Her ring had numerous famous and wealthy clients. Her original three-year sentence prompted widespread outrage at her harsh punishment, while her customers had not been punished. Earlier, in the 1980's, a member of Philadelphia's social elite, Sydney Biddle Barrows
was revealed as a madam in New York City. She became known as the Mayflower Madam.
In 1990, Congressman Barney Frank
(D-MA) admitted to paying for sex in 1989. The House of Representatives voted to reprimand him.
Randall L. Tobias
, former Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator, resigned in 2007 after being accused of patronizing a Washington escort service.
In 2007 Louisiana Senator David Vitter
acknowledged past transgressions after his name was listed as a client of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey
's prostitution service in Washington.
Eliot Spitzer
resigned as governor of New York in 2008 amid threats of impeachment after news reports alleged he was a client of an international prostitution ring.
In 2009 Rhode Island signed a bill into law making prostitution a misdemeanor. Prior to this law, between 1980 and 2009, Rhode Island was the only state where prostitution was decriminalized. See Prostitution in Rhode Island
.
is illegal throughout the United States. Street prostitution tends to be clustered in certain areas known for solicitation. For instance, statistics on official arrests from the Chicago Police Department from August 19, 2005 to May 1, 2007, suggest that prostitution activity is highly concentrated: nearly half of all prostitution arrests occur in a tiny one-third of one percent of all blocks in the entire city of Chicago.
. Both freelancers and agencies may advertise under the term "bodywork" in the back of alternative newspapers
, although some of these bodywork professionals are straightforward massage professionals.
The amount of money that is made by an escort is different depending on race, appearance, age, experience (e.g., pornography and magazine work), gender, services rendered, and location. Generally, male escorts command less on an hourly basis than women; white women quote higher rates than non-white women; and youth is at a premium. For one point of reference reflecting trends in the gay community, the gay escort agency "TOPPS", based in Washington, D.C.
, charges $150 an hour for male escorts and $250 an hour for transsexuals. That agency takes $50 an hour from the contractor. In larger metropolitan areas such as New York City
, extremely attractive Caucasian
female escorts can charge $1,000–$2,000 per hour. The agency takes 40%-50%.
Typically, an agency will charge its escorts either a flat fee for each client connection or a percentage of the prearranged rate. In San Francisco, it is usual for typical heterosexual-market agencies to negotiate for as little as $100 up to a full 50% of a woman's reported earnings (not counting any gratuity received). Most transactions occur in cash, and optional tipping of escorts by clients in most major U.S. cities is customary but not compulsory. Credit card
processing offered by larger scale agencies is often available for a service charge.
Escorts and escort agencies have historically advertised through classified ads, yellow pages
advertising, or word-of-mouth, but in more recent years, much of the advertising and soliciting of indoor prostitution has shifted to internet
sites. Sites may represent individual escorts, agencies, or may run ads for many escorts. There are also a number of sites in which customers can discuss and post reviews of the sexual services offered by prostitutes and other sex workers. Many sites allow potential buyers to search for sex workers by physical characteristics and types of services offered.
Internet advertising of sexual services is offered not only by specialty sites, but in many cases by more mainstream advertising sites. Craigslist
for many years featured an "adult services" section of this kind. After several years of pressure from law enforcement
and anti-prostitution groups, Craigslist closed this section in September 2010, first for its US pages, then some months later internationally. As of 2011, Backpage.com carries similar advertising and has received criticism from many of the same groups that were critical of Craigslist's advertising of sexual services.
, brothels are illegal everywhere in the US. However, many "massage parlors", "saunas", "spas" and similar establishments sometimes serve as fronts for prostitution, especially in big cities.
is the only U.S. state
to allow some legal prostitution
. Currently eight counties in Nevada have active brothels (these are all rural counties); as of June–July 2008 there were 28 legal brothels in Nevada. Prostitution outside the licensed brothels is illegal throughout Nevada. Prostitution is illegal in the major metropolitan areas of Las Vegas
, Reno, and Carson City, where most population lives; more than 90% of Nevada citizens live in a county where prostitution is illegal.
Prostitution in Rhode Island
was outlawed in 2009
. On November 3, governor Donald Carcieri
signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island between 1980 and 2009 because there was no specific statute to define the act and outlaw it, although associated activities such as street solicitation, running a brothel and pimping were illegal.
Louisiana
is the only state in which convicted prostitutes are required to register as sex offenders. The state's crime against nature by solicitation law is used when a person is accused of engaging in oral or anal sex in exchange for money. Only prostitutes prosecuted under this law are required to be registered. This has led to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The federal government also prosecutes some prostitution offenses. One man who forced women to be prostitutes received a 40-year sentence in federal court. Another was prosecuted for income tax evasion. Another man pled guilty to federal charges of harboring a 15 year old girl and having her work as a prostitute. Another federal defendant got life imprisonment for sex trafficking of a child by force.
Among voluntary substance abuse program participants, 41.4% of women and 11.2% of men reported selling prostitution services during the last year (March 2008).
In Newark, New Jersey, one report claims 57 percent of prostitutes are reportedly HIV-positive, and in Atlanta, 12 percent of prostitutes are possibly HIV-positive.
A 2004 TNS poll reported 15 percent of all men have paid for sex and 30 percent of single men over age 30 have paid for sex.
Over 200 men answered ads placed in Chicago area sex service classifieds for in depth interviews. Of these self-admitted "johns", 83% view buying sex as a form of addiction, 57% suspect that the women they paid were abused as children, and 40% said they are usually intoxicated when they purchase sex.
The prostitution trade in the United States is estimated to generate $14 billion a year.
s are programs aimed at the purchasers of prostitution. In the first 12 years of the still ongoing program, now called the First Offender Prostitution Program, the recidivism rate amongst offenders was reduced from 8% to less than 5%. Since 1995, similar programs have been implemented in more than 40 other communities throughout the US, including Washington, DC, West Palm Beach, FL, Buffalo, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Brooklyn, NY.
A 2009 audit of the first john school in San Francisco done by the city's budget analysis, faults the program with ill-defined goals and no way to determine its effectiveness. Despite being touted as a national model that comes at no cost to taxpayers, the audit said the program didn't cover its expenses in each of the last five years, leading to a $270,000 shortfall.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, each state has the power to regulate prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
in that state. Only in parts of Nevada
Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state to allow some legal prostitution, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal....
is prostitution legal. In all other states prostitution is usually classified as a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
.
Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
allows licensed brothels only in some rural counties. Only 8 counties have active brothels. All forms of prostitution are illegal in Clark County
Clark County, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...
(which contains Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
and its metropolitan area), Washoe County
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
(which contains Reno
Reno
Reno is the fourth most populous city in Nevada, US.Reno may also refer to:-Places:Italy*The Reno River, in Northern ItalyCanada*Reno No...
), Carson City, Douglas County
Douglas County, Nevada
Douglas County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of 2000, the population was 41,259. As of 2010, the population was estimated to be 46,997.- History :...
, and Lincoln County
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...
. The other counties allow brothels, but some of these counties currently have no active brothels.
Prostitution is considered by some US governments to be a public order crime
Public order crime
In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel as "...crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e. it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal because it is contrary to shared norms, social values, and...
, a crime that disrupts the order of a community. It was at one time considered to be a vagrancy
Vagrancy (people)
A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...
crime.
As with other countries, prostitution in the United States can be divided into three broad categories: street prostitution, brothel prostitution, and escort prostitution.
18th century
Some of the women in the American RevolutionWomen in the American Revolution
- How it happened :The American Revolution took place after England placed the 7 Coercive or Intolerable Acts laws in order in the colonies. This included closing the port of New York, extending the boundary of Quebec to the Ohio River, limiting self government in the Mississippi River, ordering...
who followed the Continental Army served the soldiers and officers as sexual partners. Prostitutes were a worrisome presence to army leadership, particularly because of the possible spread of venereal diseases. Some, however, encouraged the presence of prostitutes to keep troop morale high.
19th century
In the 19th century, parlor house brothelBrothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s catered to upper class clientele, while bawdy houses catered to the lower class. At concert saloon
Concert saloon
The concert saloon was an American copy of the English music hall, and the forerunner of the variety and vaudeville theater. As in the music hall, alcohol was served. The entertainment at the saloon was to hold the imbiber's attention, so they would imbibe more.- References :Zellers, Parker R....
s, men could eat, listen to music, watch a fight, or pay women for sex. Over 200 brothels existed in lower Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Prostitution was illegal under the vagrancy laws, but was not well-enforced by police and city officials, who were bribed by brothel owners and madams. Attempts to regulate prostitution were struck down on grounds that it is against the public good. Seventy-five percent of New York men had some type of sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
.
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
profits of the 1840s to 1900 attracted gambling, crime, saloons, and prostitution to the mining towns of the wild west. Widespread media coverage of prostitution occurred in 1836, when famous courtesan Helen Jewett
Helen Jewett
Helen Jewett was an upscale New York City prostitute whose murder, along with the subsequent trial and acquittal of her alleged killer, Richard P. Robinson, generated an unprecedented amount of media coverage....
was murdered, allegedly by one of her customers. The Lorette ordinance of 1857 prohibited prostitution on the first floor of buildings in New Orleans. Nevertheless, prostitution continued to grow rapidly in the US, becoming a 6.3 million-dollar business in 1858, more than the shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
and brewing industries combined.
By the US Civil War, Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the city of Washington, D.C. Established on September 30, 1965, the site is roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue, 15th Street NW, F Street NW, and 3rd Street NW...
had become a disreputable slum known as Murder Bay, home to an extensive criminal underclass and numerous brothels. So many prostitutes took up residence there to serve the needs of General Joseph Hooker
Joseph Hooker
Joseph Hooker was a career United States Army officer, achieving the rank of major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although he served throughout the war, usually with distinction, Hooker is best remembered for his stunning defeat by Confederate General Robert E...
's Army of the Potomac
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...
that the area became known as "Hooker's Division." Two blocks between Pennsylvania and Missouri Avenues became home to such expensive brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s that it was known as "Marble Alley."
In 1873, Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock was a United States Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.-Biography:...
created the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice was an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public, founded in 1873. Its specific mission was to monitor compliance with state laws and work with the courts and district attorneys in bringing offenders to justice. It and its...
, an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public. Comstock successfully influenced the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to pass the Comstock Law
Comstock Law
The Comstock Act, , enacted March 3, 1873, was a United States federal law which amended the Post Office Act and made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. In addition to banning contraceptives, this...
, which made illegal the delivery or transport of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" material and birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
information. In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act of 1875
Page Act of 1875
The Page Act of 1875 was the first federal immigration law and prohibited the entry of immigrants considered "undesirable." The law classified as "undesirable" any individual from Asia who was coming to America to be a contract laborer, any Asian woman who would engage in prostitution, and all...
that made it illegal to transport women into the nation to be used as prostitutes.
In 1881, the Bird Cage Theatre opened in Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
. It included a brothel in the basement and 14 cribs suspended from the ceiling, called cages. Famous men such as Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
, Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph...
, Diamond Jim Brady, and George Hearst
George Hearst
George Hearst was a wealthy American businessman and United States Senator, and the father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst.-Early life and education:...
frequented the establishment.
In the late 19th century, newspapers reported that 65,000 white slaves existed. Around 1890, the term "red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
" was first recorded in the United States. From 1890 to 1982, the Dumas Brothel
Dumas Brothel
The Dumas Brothel was a famous bordello in Butte, Montana in the United States. Located in the heart of uptown Butte, the brothel has been proclaimed America’s longest running house of prostitution...
in Montana was America’s longest-running house of prostitution.
New Orleans city alderman Sidney Story wrote an ordinance in 1897 to regulate and limit prostitution to one small area of the city, "The District", where all prostitutes in New Orleans must live and work. The District, or Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
, became the most famous area for prostitution in the nation. Storyville at its peak had some 1500 prostitutes and 200 brothels.
Legal measures
In 1908, The Bureau of Investigation (BOI) was founded by the government to investigate "white slavery" by interviewing brothel employees to find out if they had been kidnapped. Out of 1106 prostitutes interviewed in one city, six said they were victims of white slavery. (In 1935, the BOI became the FBI.) The White-Slave Traffic Act (Mann Act) of 1910 prohibited so-called white slavery. It also banned the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”. Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution and immorality. The Supreme Court later included consensual debauchery, adultery, and polygamy under “immoral purposes”.In 1918, the Chamberlain-Kahn Act gave the government the power to quarantine any woman suspected of having a Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
(STD). A medical examination was required, and if it revealed an STD, this discovery could constitute proof of prostitution. The purpose of this law was to prevent the spread of venereal diseases among U.S. soldiers. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
was shut down to prevent VD transmission to soldiers in nearby army and navy camps.
Mortensen vs. United States, in 1944, ruled that prostitutes could travel across state lines, if the purpose of travel was not for prostitution.
In 1967, New York City eliminated license requirements for massage parlor
Massage parlor
A massage parlor is a business where customers can receive a massage. Sometimes the term is synonymous with brothel as the term "massage" may be used as a euphemism for paid sexual favours....
s. Many massage parlors became brothels. In 1970, Nevada began regulation of houses of prostitution. In 1971, The Mustang Ranch
Mustang Ranch
The Mustang Ranch, originally known as the Mustang Bridge Ranch, is a brothel in Storey County, Nevada, about fifteen miles east of Reno. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Sparks, NV 89434....
became Nevada's first licensed brothel, eventually leading to the legalization of brothel prostitution in ten of seventeen counties of the state. In time, Mustang Ranch became Nevada's largest brothel, with more revenue than all other legal Nevada brothels combined.
Other developments
In 1917, New Orleans government shut down prostitute cribs and tried unsuccessfully to segregate New Orleans. On January 25, 1917, an anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracted huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7,000 people, 20,000 were kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Reverend Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes made a plea for toleration, explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asked if they would take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laughed derisively, which lost them public sympathy. The police closed about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter.By World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, prostitutes had increasingly gone underground as call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
s.
Conditions for sex trade workers changed considerably in the 1960s. The Combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved in 1960 for contraceptive use in the United States. "The Pill" helped prostitutes prevent pregnancy.
In 1971, famous New York madame Xaviera Hollander wrote The Happy Hooker: My Own Story, a book that was notable for its frankness at the time, and considered a landmark of positive writing about sex. Carol Leigh
Carol Leigh
Carol Leigh, aka The Scarlot Harlot, is an artist, author, film maker, and prostitutes' rights activist. She coined the term "Sex worker"in a conference in 1978....
, a prostitute's rights activist known as the "Scarlot Harlot," coined the term "Sex worker" in 1978. That same year, the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
opened. It was based on the real-life Texas Chicken Ranch
Chicken Ranch (Texas)
The Chicken Ranch was as an illegal but tolerated brothel in the U.S. state of Texas that operated from 1905 until 1973. It was located in Fayette County about 2.5 miles east of downtown La Grange...
brothel. The play was the basis for the 1982 movie starring Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
.
COYOTE
COYOTE
COYOTE, or Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics, is an American sex worker activist organization. COYOTE's goals include the decriminalization of prostitution, pimping and pandering, as well as the elimination of social stigma concerning sex work as an occupation.Though it is frequently described as a...
, formed in 1973, was the first prostitute's rights group in the U.S. Other prostitute's rights groups formed, such as: FLOP, HIRE, and PUMA.
In 1997, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam"....
was convicted in connection with her prostitution ring with charges including pandering and tax evasion. Her ring had numerous famous and wealthy clients. Her original three-year sentence prompted widespread outrage at her harsh punishment, while her customers had not been punished. Earlier, in the 1980's, a member of Philadelphia's social elite, Sydney Biddle Barrows
Sydney Biddle Barrows
Sydney Biddle Barrows is an American businesswoman who became known as an escort-service owner while using the stage name Sheila Devin and later became known as the "Mayflower Madam"...
was revealed as a madam in New York City. She became known as the Mayflower Madam.
In 1990, Congressman Barney Frank
Barney Frank
Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...
(D-MA) admitted to paying for sex in 1989. The House of Representatives voted to reprimand him.
21st century
Ted Haggard, former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned in 2006 after he was accused of soliciting homosexual sex and methamphetamine.Randall L. Tobias
Randall L. Tobias
Randall L. Tobias is a former chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company who became the first United States Director of Foreign Assistance, and served concurrently as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development , with the rank of Ambassador...
, former Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator, resigned in 2007 after being accused of patronizing a Washington escort service.
In 2007 Louisiana Senator David Vitter
David Vitter
David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...
acknowledged past transgressions after his name was listed as a client of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey
Deborah Jeane Palfrey
Deborah Jeane Palfrey operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she argued that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008 of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering...
's prostitution service in Washington.
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
resigned as governor of New York in 2008 amid threats of impeachment after news reports alleged he was a client of an international prostitution ring.
In 2009 Rhode Island signed a bill into law making prostitution a misdemeanor. Prior to this law, between 1980 and 2009, Rhode Island was the only state where prostitution was decriminalized. See Prostitution in Rhode Island
Prostitution in Rhode Island
Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime....
.
Street prostitution
Street prostitutionStreet prostitution
Street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, beaches, etc. The street prostitute is often dressed in a...
is illegal throughout the United States. Street prostitution tends to be clustered in certain areas known for solicitation. For instance, statistics on official arrests from the Chicago Police Department from August 19, 2005 to May 1, 2007, suggest that prostitution activity is highly concentrated: nearly half of all prostitution arrests occur in a tiny one-third of one percent of all blocks in the entire city of Chicago.
Escort/out-call prostitution
In spite of its illegality, escort prostitution exists throughout the United States from both independent prostitutes and those employed through escort agenciesEscort agency
Escort agencies are companies that provide escorts for the agency's clients. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room , or at the escort's residence . Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay...
. Both freelancers and agencies may advertise under the term "bodywork" in the back of alternative newspapers
Alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper, that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Their news coverage is more...
, although some of these bodywork professionals are straightforward massage professionals.
The amount of money that is made by an escort is different depending on race, appearance, age, experience (e.g., pornography and magazine work), gender, services rendered, and location. Generally, male escorts command less on an hourly basis than women; white women quote higher rates than non-white women; and youth is at a premium. For one point of reference reflecting trends in the gay community, the gay escort agency "TOPPS", based in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, charges $150 an hour for male escorts and $250 an hour for transsexuals. That agency takes $50 an hour from the contractor. In larger metropolitan areas such as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, extremely attractive Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
female escorts can charge $1,000–$2,000 per hour. The agency takes 40%-50%.
Typically, an agency will charge its escorts either a flat fee for each client connection or a percentage of the prearranged rate. In San Francisco, it is usual for typical heterosexual-market agencies to negotiate for as little as $100 up to a full 50% of a woman's reported earnings (not counting any gratuity received). Most transactions occur in cash, and optional tipping of escorts by clients in most major U.S. cities is customary but not compulsory. Credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
processing offered by larger scale agencies is often available for a service charge.
Escorts and escort agencies have historically advertised through classified ads, yellow pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
advertising, or word-of-mouth, but in more recent years, much of the advertising and soliciting of indoor prostitution has shifted to internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
sites. Sites may represent individual escorts, agencies, or may run ads for many escorts. There are also a number of sites in which customers can discuss and post reviews of the sexual services offered by prostitutes and other sex workers. Many sites allow potential buyers to search for sex workers by physical characteristics and types of services offered.
Internet advertising of sexual services is offered not only by specialty sites, but in many cases by more mainstream advertising sites. Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
for many years featured an "adult services" section of this kind. After several years of pressure from law enforcement
Law enforcement
Law enforcement broadly refers to any system by which some members of society act in an organized manner to promote adherence to the law by discovering and punishing persons who violate the rules and norms governing that society...
and anti-prostitution groups, Craigslist closed this section in September 2010, first for its US pages, then some months later internationally. As of 2011, Backpage.com carries similar advertising and has received criticism from many of the same groups that were critical of Craigslist's advertising of sexual services.
Brothel prostitution
With the exception of some rural counties from NevadaNevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, brothels are illegal everywhere in the US. However, many "massage parlors", "saunas", "spas" and similar establishments sometimes serve as fronts for prostitution, especially in big cities.
Legal status
NevadaNevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
is the only U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
to allow some legal prostitution
Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state to allow some legal prostitution, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal....
. Currently eight counties in Nevada have active brothels (these are all rural counties); as of June–July 2008 there were 28 legal brothels in Nevada. Prostitution outside the licensed brothels is illegal throughout Nevada. Prostitution is illegal in the major metropolitan areas of Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Reno, and Carson City, where most population lives; more than 90% of Nevada citizens live in a county where prostitution is illegal.
Prostitution in Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
was outlawed in 2009
Prostitution in Rhode Island
Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime....
. On November 3, governor Donald Carcieri
Donald Carcieri
Donald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island between 1980 and 2009 because there was no specific statute to define the act and outlaw it, although associated activities such as street solicitation, running a brothel and pimping were illegal.
Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
is the only state in which convicted prostitutes are required to register as sex offenders. The state's crime against nature by solicitation law is used when a person is accused of engaging in oral or anal sex in exchange for money. Only prostitutes prosecuted under this law are required to be registered. This has led to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The federal government also prosecutes some prostitution offenses. One man who forced women to be prostitutes received a 40-year sentence in federal court. Another was prosecuted for income tax evasion. Another man pled guilty to federal charges of harboring a 15 year old girl and having her work as a prostitute. Another federal defendant got life imprisonment for sex trafficking of a child by force.
Statistics on prostitutes and customers
One 1990 study estimated the annual prevalence of full-time equivalent prostitutes in the United States to be 23 per 100,000 population based on a capture–recapture study of prostitutes found in Colorado Springs, CO, police and sexually transmitted diseases clinic records between 1970 and 1988.Among voluntary substance abuse program participants, 41.4% of women and 11.2% of men reported selling prostitution services during the last year (March 2008).
In Newark, New Jersey, one report claims 57 percent of prostitutes are reportedly HIV-positive, and in Atlanta, 12 percent of prostitutes are possibly HIV-positive.
A 2004 TNS poll reported 15 percent of all men have paid for sex and 30 percent of single men over age 30 have paid for sex.
Over 200 men answered ads placed in Chicago area sex service classifieds for in depth interviews. Of these self-admitted "johns", 83% view buying sex as a form of addiction, 57% suspect that the women they paid were abused as children, and 40% said they are usually intoxicated when they purchase sex.
The prostitution trade in the United States is estimated to generate $14 billion a year.
John Schools
John schoolJohn school
John school is a type of educational intervention aimed at johns, or male clients of prostitutes; john schools are usually a diversion program, but can also be a condition of a criminal sentence...
s are programs aimed at the purchasers of prostitution. In the first 12 years of the still ongoing program, now called the First Offender Prostitution Program, the recidivism rate amongst offenders was reduced from 8% to less than 5%. Since 1995, similar programs have been implemented in more than 40 other communities throughout the US, including Washington, DC, West Palm Beach, FL, Buffalo, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Brooklyn, NY.
A 2009 audit of the first john school in San Francisco done by the city's budget analysis, faults the program with ill-defined goals and no way to determine its effectiveness. Despite being touted as a national model that comes at no cost to taxpayers, the audit said the program didn't cover its expenses in each of the last five years, leading to a $270,000 shortfall.