Prostitution laws prohibit anyone from providing or offering to provide sexual conduct in exchange for money or any other form of compensation. They also punish those who offer sex for money (that is, solicit) or who purchase any sexual service. These laws are not confined to people who directly participate in the proscribed sexual activity; they also penalize those who arrange or benefit financially from prostitution arrangements. Pandering, the practice of procuring a person to be used for prostitution, and pimping, the act of receiving any part of a prostitute’s earnings, are typical, illegal ways in which third parties promote prostitution.
For more information on pandering and pimping, see Pimping and Pandering.
The History of the Oldest Profession
Informally dubbed the “world’s oldest profession,” prostitution is an American institution. Though the exchange of money for sexual acts is banned in all but one state—Nevada —prostitution was once entirely legal. With far more men than women in society, sexual commerce was ubiquitous in Colonial America. The “occupation” thrived from the eighteenth century into the nineteenth. During this time there was no legal definition of prostitution in most states. The practice remained legal despite public condemnation. Brothels and their patrons were prominent along the coasts and eventually spread to the country’s rural areas.
Local governments tried—mostly unsuccessfully—to regulate prostitution. Determining that absolute prevention was impossible, the country turned to the practice of confining prostitution to certain geographic areas known as “redlight districts.” These sectors were technically illegal in many states, but governments often tolerated them. Eventually, at the turn of the nineteenth century, the states began to enact criminal laws prohibiting prostitution, while Congress did the same. By 1971 every state other than Nevada had outlawed sex-for-sale.
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