The causes of prostitution

The wonder is that there is not a greater degree of public
appreciation of the prostitute-making conditions
which society harbors because it foolishly
thinks that it profits by them.
By JAMES P. WARBASSE
A prostitute is a woman who offers her body for hire to men for their sexual pleasure. Sexual promiscuity on the part of women, not practised for money, does not constitute prostitution. Nor does the mere granting of sexual privileges for money constitute prostitution; if it did, women who marry for money would fall within this class. Prostitution means promiscuity for hire.
We should approach its study with sympathetic minds. The prostitute in America is likely to be a weak character who has fallen a victim to the vicious conditions which society maintains. The glamor and gayety, which flippantly are spoken of as associated with her traffic, really do not exist for her. Her lot by no means is a happy one. She reconciles herself to this life usually because her mind is empty of better things. When once engaged in prostitution, it is difficult for the woman to escape from it unless powerful social forces are brought to bear.
The specific causes which prompt women to enter this traffic may be classified as follows: (I) those affecting both sexes, (II) those affecting first the male, and (III) those bearing especially upon the female.
Before proceeding with an enumeration of causative factors, let it be noted that the two fundamental causes are (a) sexual lust on the part of men and (b) poverty on the part of women. The other causes which will be given are subsidiary to these two. Anything that makes for sexual looseness, that breaks down the fiber of sexual morality, makes for prostitution. We may even go so far as to include all agencies which provoke sexual excitement. Among these are many contributing conditions, some predominated by good, some by evil. Thus, as sexual excitants, on the one hand is music, with a maximum power for good and a minimum power for evil; and on the other, alcohol, with a minimum power for good and a maximum power for evil. An analysis of the causative factors is not complete unless it takes into account these secondary influences.