It is safe to say that prostitution is one of, if not the oldest profession around, but is it safe to say that prostitution is a good thing? Does it benefit society? Are there any consequences with this type of profession? In this essay, I answer these questions according to my views and those of Debra Satz. Prostitution is harmful and exploitative for many of those who work in it and since women account for a large majority of those who practice prostitution, these disadvantages disproportionately affect women. In addition, prostitution, as a gendered institution serves to reinforce and perpetuate one of the cultural images of women that is largely responsible for their continuing subordination, namely, the perception that a woman's sexual behavior, availability and/or desirability are important facts about her social value or position. Debra Satz argues that prostitution is wrong because it promotes inequality between men and women. Debra Satz believes that economics and a person's status are factors which generate gender inequality, thus driving women into prostitution. "On my view, there are two important dimensions of gender inequality, often conflated. The first dimension concerns inequalities in the distribution of income, wealth and opportunity"" (Pg. 75). First there is income inequality, In 1992, given equal hours of work, women in the United States earned on average sixty-cents for every dollar earned by a man. Seventy-five percent of full time working women (as opposed to 37 percent of full-time working men) earn less than twenty thousand dollars)" (Pg. 75) .
These statistics clearly show that women have no any choice but to rely on a man's income. It would be difficult for a woman to survive solely on her income given that women have equal if not more expenses than men, if a woman cannot earn as much as a man, how is she able to live independently? Unfortunately, in our society, a person's power is dictated by their income.