If you mention prostitution in a discussion most people have an apprehension that it is a problem, opinions about how to fight it and acceptances of how the people involved with prostitution are. Prostitution is a phenomenon that is quite changeable in its character and it is characterized by the social conditions. By writing this essay I've wanted to study if you can find differences in the status and differences in the grade of divergent behaviour among prostitutes. My question at issue what kind of prostitution exists and what kind of prostitution is considered to be unhealthy for body, soul and society? Is it the kind of prostitution that occurs visible or is it the hidden luxury prostitution? Because of the considerable proportions and the many dimensions of the subject I have chosen to limit my studies to female heterosexual prostitution in Stockholm present times.
In Sweden the prostitution is considered to be damageable for both parts, the woman and the customer, socially and physically. The prostitution is also regarded to be a problem if you look at the "sideeffects": illegal money, assault, narcotics and alcohol addictions and more. In the southern European countries they have another point of view. They look upon it as a job like the others. .
3. METHOD.
A lot of the material I have used is a bit old. The older books go through the pervading pattern that exists in prostitution and are therefore still relevant, though with some corrections. I have used reports from Socialstyrelsen and BrottsfÖrebyggande Rådets websites. These ones are a lot more exact when it comes to numbers, though numbers concerning prostitution generally never can be completely correct since approximately 2/3 of the sex traffic happens in obscurity. The investigations that have been made can rarely be verified since most of the crimes of prostitution are discovered during search-partys and therefore the numbers changes according to the police's inset.
