Prostitution
...efined as the patterns of behavior, rules or expectations of someone or something. "Norms" may vary from society, and are also extremely culturally and timely related. "Norms" are enforced by rewards and sanctions. A sexual norm for example would be, a woman should not be permiscuis. The sanction for deviating this norm would be social withdrawel and rejection. Take the Dutch citizens for instance. In Sterk and Campbell's article, the Dutch society out- casted prostitutes and did not think highly of them. Their actions were not tolerated by society which caused prostitutes to form their own organizations separate from society. Social withdrawel is an informal sanction, while in Western society prostitution would be formally sanctioned with laws. Today what we consider one male and one female as sexual parterns to be the "sexual norm." In prostitution however, there are times where two females and two males or more are engaging in sexual activity. This clearly would be deviating from the "norm." Also, when a couple engages in a sexual act we hope for it to be consentual, and to have me the needs for both parterns. In prostitution there has always been an issue on whether or not it is degrading and lowering the value of woman. In the article "The Netherlands", feminists worried that prostitution would exploit women and raise sexual inequality between men and women. The act of prostitution can be seen as an extreme case of deviation from the norm. It deviates from the norm of sex between husband and wife, along with women being permiscuis. I personally feel the Dutch society has a right to argue and express their thoughts on prostitution. They feel that the act is disrespectful of Dutch "norms" and values, and feel that they should be formally sanctioned as do I. Prostitutes will continue to be socially accepted, and making it illegal would help solve some of the problems already caused by prostitution. Prostitutes have no choice but to live with society and if they are going to be unaccepted regardless of its legalization, they shou...