The causes of prostitution

An essay examines social and individual causes of prostitution, arguing that male sexual appetite and female poverty are primary drivers, with many subsidiary factors. It classifies causes affecting both sexes (notably defective sexual education and prudishness), those rooted in male behavior (double standards, delayed marriage from economic pressures, beliefs about male sexual necessity, alcohol, and absence of respectable female companionship), and those specific to women (economic hardship and inadequate wages). The author links ignorance, social norms, and economic structures to patterns of sexual commerce and calls for preventive social reforms.