Prostitution of Children and Child Prostitutes

PROSTITUTION Prostitution is defined as the roleplay, practice or commerce of offering the body for rideual relations for money. (New Websters Dictionary 1995802). The cyclopedia Americana (1997) defined har roundaboutry as the performance of sexual acts with an opposite individual in return for the payment custodyt of a fee. Child prostitution is therefore, prostitution embarked upon by nipperren who atomic number 18 downstairs the geezerhood of 18 and are vatic to be catered for by their parents.It is comm totally acknowledged that acts of prostitution are performed by women for men nevertheless occasions arise when the acts are done by men for men. The context of this work deals particularly with pistillate nipper prostitution. UNICEF considers electric razor prostitutes as young young ladys in sex trade, who are in the midst of the age bracket of 8 and 16. (Jubilee Action Report 1995). In the Nigerian milieu, prostitutes be embarrassed the age of 18 are regarde d as fry prostitutes, since only persons preceding(prenominal) 18 years of age are statutorily regarded as adults.Child prostitution is the sexual exploitation of girls and teenagers ( elicit February 8, 20036). Available data show that approximately 1. 5 million children in India, 1 million in Asia, 100,00 children in United States and 500 children in Latin America are diligent in prostitution (Healy, 199535). Awake (February 8,20032) reported,there were about 300,000 child prostitutes on the avenues, in an separate prop up where drug trafficking flourishes. According to Jubilee Action report (199510), up to 1 million feminine children join prostitution each year around the globe.However, the cloak-and-dagger nature of child prostitution comes it impossible to calculate the exact tote up of working prostitutes, nonetheless the International Labour Organization (ILO) analysis (1993-1994), estimates that between 0. 25% and 1. 5% of the total female population are engaged in this trade. Globally, child prostitution is illegal and it is besides regarded as a barbarous crime, yet it persists. Why? Child prostitution does not plainly happen. It is caused by a variety of movers whatsoever are perpetrated by the prostitutes themselves, temporary hookup whatsoever other factors are external to the prostitutes themselves.This is really a growing hassle in developed world and developing world like Nigeria (Quintanilla, 199720). CAUSES OF fry PROSTITUTION IN Owerri Municipal Council 1. Misery and POVERTY Poverty is the nigh common reason why most families sell the services of their female children to augment their income in order to buy nourishment or vestments and other necessities of life. (Janssen, 200110). The case of child labour is a typical factor that exposes children to prostitution. The hired female children are sent out to hawk food items on the streets, motor parks, and mechanic garages thereby exposing them to rapes as well as sexual har assment s.Barnes H. C. (195995) observed that near females take to prostitution repayable to sheer destitution. Awake (February 8,20035) reported that some street children resort to prostitution because they probe it as their only mode of survival. The Awake further colligate an experience of a mother of 14-year-old girl who lured her daughter into this ignominious trade. The muliebrity said about her daughter, she was beautiful and that men would like her very much. Besides, she would bring in a lot of money. In the evenings, the woman takes her daughter to a motel where they reach out contacts.The mother stays nearby to consume the payments. Each night, this girl has sex with three or four men. 2. UNEMPLOYMENT Unemployment of either the parents or the child extends in unreliable source of income thereby forcing children into prostitution as an alternative fashion of income to support the family. Ironically, the International Labour Organization observes that a childs a bility to earn money is limited. It is estimated that the money earned by the child only contributes to approximately 10% of the familys overall income and therefore has tokenish effect on the familys monetary gain (Dimenstein, 199412).Due to high stop of unemployment, the brothels employ some female children who serve in their drinking musca volitans to promote their business. 3. HUMANS TRAFFICKING Human trafficking is some other evil leading to child prostitution. Human trafficking which represent the worlds third largest criminal occupation following only after drug and weapons trafficking is sometimes purported to send teenagers to other countries to work. These would-be workers who sometimes end up prostitutes actually work and extradite money to their respective home countries (Awake, February 8, 2003 5).Many times, hard times hit these fellows as they are deported to come and continue this profession at home. few of the female prostitutes come home to take some younge r females to their places either to foster them or to make them their servants and at the long run they get born-again to prostitution, which is their boss profession. 4. DECEPTION ENCOURAGES PROSTITUTION Pimps or brothel owners deceive some parents by paying them money and assuring to enlist their children in their internal services, which later turns to be prostitution.These brothel owners who are termed the girls owners take control of the childs activities. Moreover, these owners do everything possible to withstand these girls who earn money for them to maintain their lavish lifestyle (Robinson, 200150) and (Dimenstein 199410). Apart from the pimps, other intermediaries who benefit from child prostitution do anything possible to hit the act continued. Most females are led into this act of prostitution by their masters.Some of them could be anaesthetized by their masters in order to have fun with them and when eventually the woman of the house gets to know about the act she will be thrown out side to continue the act with other men including the master. 5. DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY ENVIRONMENT PROMOTES PROSTITUTION Children of broken homes sleep wherever they see space to do so in the day, and go to the disco and nightclubs in the night. Ekejiuba I. K. (199613) discovered that ill treatment of children at home might make them to take to the street in order to find solace.Then the end result may be the hawking of their body to support themselves. 6 light EDUCATION Some children cannot support themselves materially in view of low breedingal training they received, so they resort to prostitution as their only profession (Rodriguez- Garcia, 199955). Girl-child Education Initiative In Africa (January 200320) highlights the effect of poor education in the whole of Africa. In connection with poor education, peer pressure, tough association The causes and effects of child prostitution in Owerri Municipal Council and street ganging contribute to child prostituti on.Identifiably, a girl may end up as a prostitute by her association, peer pressure and by running with a street gang (Okebugwu, 198925) Adetore, (197460) Oti (198415) and Daily Times ( may 15,199912). 7. AIDS SCARE PROMOTES CHILD PROSTITUTION The high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS make customers of prostitutes to look for children who are considered to be of low risk, and most probably virgins (Robinson, 200113). Patrons of child prostitutes are willing to pay a great deal of money to be a girls first client.In the streets, brothels and drinking spots these days a lot of female children are being employed to help lure to a greater extent male customers to their spots. Places like Amaram by Tetlow Road and some places in Onyeche passageway in Owerri have a high number of female child prostitutes who are employed only to facilitate their business. This is because there is the fear that other older female prostitutes in the same profession could have respect ive(a) STDs. 8. DRUG ABUSE AND ADDICTION ARE PRO-CHILD PROSTITUTIONThe influence of drugs can field of operation a child to prostitution and to certain indignifying acts of prostitution which she may other than never agree to trustn her sound mind (Lewis 198070) and Udechi (198715). 9. REBELLION AND pinch OF INDEPENDENCE This is another factor promoting child prostitutions. Some girls are shamelessly bold. What is more, they feel that the body is theirs thus they should decide what to do with their body. (Bennet, G and Robert, P. 1985207). 10. erotica AGGRAVATES CHILD PROSTITUTION Pornography also puts viewers at increase risk for developing sexually deviate tendencies. Awake July 22, 20037). Pornography is set as promoting the rape myth which is a belief that women cause and revere rape. Additionally, the repeated use of pornography interferes with the ability to enjoy and participate in normal marital intimacy. Dr. Victor Cline, who specializes in treating sex addiction cl aims that deviant sexual acts results when a viewer tries to act out the pornography-based fantasies. 11. Incestuous rapine and rape in homes as a factor Some youths were ravish in their own homes, which act changed their outlook in life.Some of such ones give vent to prostitution. Two other closely related causes of prostitution are glamor associated with it and insatiable sexual urges in some females. Blag(197668) observed that some prostitutes take to this lifestyle because of their innate desire for glamour or that they requisite to maintain a standard of life, which is impossible by ordinary means of earning, a life reminiscent of Greek aether. On the other hand, Ekejiuba(199614) place other females, nymphomaniacs, who engage in prostitution for the sake of fun or pleasure they derive from it. 2 SUDDEN EXPOSURE Furthermore, illicit deal affairs in the presence of children may subject them to early(a) prostitution. Some parents perform extra marital affairs in the presence of their wards. This exposes the children to early sex life. The premature death of one or both of the parents has also been discovered as one of the causes of child prostitution. Because of the chasm created by such loss, a teenage girl may be fraught with the onerous confinement of catering for herself and other family members. More importantly, no one may last to give stern guideline on her.One Owerri girl who returned from Kumasi Ghana claimed that her forefather died when she was eight years. This demise of his father left her with the responsibility of catering for her younger siblings and her mother who hails from Kumasi, Ghana. These challenges make her to dabble into prostitution. Child prostitution is not without its consequences, some of which are seemingly pardonable, whereas others are taboo at mere concern of them. High patronage of child prostitutes by wealthy men is another factor that has caused and sustained child prostitution ( Ekejiuba 1996 13).Some teenage girls find it operose to resist the temptation of prostitution because of huge sum of money they receive there-from. This accounts for why some IMSU, Alvan and FUTO ladies readily avail themselves for this business. Marxist oriented scholars see prostitution as an outgrowth of capitalism. Many of these see the gradual removal of subsidy from petroleum, which is the main balance of Nigerian economy as exposing many another(prenominal) persons to difficulty and leading to sexual promiscuity.