Child prostitute

A child prostitute is a child who either sells or is sold for sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) in exchange for money or other kind of return. The primary difference between a "child prostitute" and an ordinary prostitute is primarily in the age. Also, while most are female, some child prostitues (like their adult counterparts) are male--but for the purposes of grammatical simplicity, all further references in this article shall be in the feminine with the understanding that the masculine is also sometimes true unless otherwise specified.

While the legality of prostitution varies between different parts of the world, child prostitution is generally considered to be illegal everywhere, even if only on paper. Some clarification is needed to distinguish its two forms.

Teenage Prostitution

Teenage prostitution involves girls (or young women) who are in their adolesence but still under a certain declared age. Usually the range is from 13-18 years of age, but variations in legal standards and data arrangement often cause some confusion in the matter. For example, the Thai government defines a teenage prostitute as being between 15 and 18 years old, while the Japanese government defines one as being between 13 and 18. Many western documents set the lower limit as anywhere from 12 to 16 and the upper limit as anywhere from 16 to 21. The basis for this classification is rooted in the concept of statutory rape, but often the age ranges do not corelate to the relevant age of consent laws.

In terms of actually occurance, teenage prostitution is very common, but except for countries where prostitutes are licenced and regulated, there is little serious effort to eliminate the practice as a problem seperate from regular prostitution. The vast majority of teenage prostitutes are runaways--many having arrest records, broken homes, drug addictions, and/or psychological disorders--and often drift further into the criminal underworld. However, there are other girls (but seemingly no boys) who prostitute themselves in otherwise perfectly normal conditions. This later type is similar to the Japanese practice called enjo kosai.

Child Prostitution

Even thought the term "child prostitution" is used broadly, it actually refers simply to prepubescents and children who are in the early stages of puberty. It is commonly believed that there is a thriving industry of child prostitution (and consquently child pornography as well) in the underground, but the magnitude of the problem is usually exagerated. Also, the rumors and stories about child prostitutes are often less than credible. Except for those cases or incidents that are properly documented, most stories are either hearsay or media gossip (see tabloid). In some countries (especially impoverished countries), child prostitutes are usually abductees who are sold to a brothel-keeper, but the details are sketchy and the statistics are unreliable.

Living and working conditions for child prostitutes are generally appauling, but often times the conditions are little better for older prostitutes. Most of them live and work in unsanitary conditions, poorly paid (if paid at all), unable to access proper medical care, and kept constantly nearby through threat of force. Although it is widely reported that child prostitutes service large numbers of so-called sex tourists, it is inconceivable that the majority of their "clients" are not locals in the same country.

See also

Prostitution Child pornography Human trafficking