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Question: Was prostitution more common and widespread in the past than it is today!?
I read a lot of history, and it seems like prostitution was very widespread in the past - from the Roman Empire, to the Wild West, to soliders in World War II and Vietnam!.
Today our soldiers are in Iraq, where I am guessing there is not much prostitution!.
Is prostitution today more widespread or less widespread than it was in the past!?
What % of soldiers in World War II consorted with prostitutes!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
There are so many more people today than there were in ancient times that to make a solid comparison is difficult!. also, keeping statistics didn't even begin until about 1870 or so!.
It's true that prostitution has been legal throughout most of human history!. In Sumeria and Babylon the temple prostitutes made money for the temple, and had high standing in society!. In Greece and Rome it was totally normal for a man, even a married man, to hire sex workers!. (Only women could commit adultery!. Men could do anything they wanted with women of lower class!. But if a patrician had an affair with another patrician's wife, that was considered adultery for both parties!.)
In the Middle Ages, prostitution flourished!. People were very frank in speaking of brothels and such - on a street where there was a brothel, people just called it C*nt St!. The church officials saw prostitution as a necessary evil!. The prostitutes often worked for the local bishop, and marched with heads held high in the guild parades!.
In India the status of widows was so wretched that many of them became temple prostitutes; here they could make money and have shelter and the protection of the temple authorities!.
Likewise in China and Japan prostitution was widespread and considered perfectly normal!.
It's still considered normal throughout Latin America, Africa and nearly all of Europe!. Canada tolerates it behind closed doors, as does the state of Rhode Island!.
Don't underestimate the desire of Iraqi widows to support themselves by resorting to prostitution!. Iran has a legal fiction that covers the work - people get married for a day!.
I think a large percentage of American soldiers consorted with prostitutes!. In the crumbling economies of Italy and France, American dollars were worth a great deal!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

if you go back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome, prostitution was perfectly legal, and was quite open!. In more recent times, military prostitution has been somewhat more discrete (because outlawed) but still widely practiced!. From the Camp Followers of the American revolution to "Hooker's Girls" in the American Civil War, to Filipina girls in the period after the Spanish-American war, and leading right up through WWII and Korea to Vietnam, to Vietnam, where French Vietnamese P-girls were very widely available, wherever there are American troops with lots of money and local women with little money, there will be prostitution!. It's certainly true that there isn't as much prostitution in Afghanistan and Iraq as there was in Vietnam, for example!. What little there is is carried out very discretely!.

As to your last question, it depended entirely upon the outfit and the area a unit was in!. Not much opportunity for Marines, for example, during the island campaign!. On leave, however, or on occupation duty, the percentage was probably pretty high!. VD rates were reported in some cases as running as high as 60% among occupation forces in France, the Low Countries, and after the war, in Japan!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes!. way too much to type read this; http://ancienthistory!.about!.com/library/!.!.!. Military prostitution has long been seen around U!.S!. bases in the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and other countries!. But since the U!.S!. has begun to deploy forces to many Muslim countries, it cannot be as open about enabling prostitution for its personnel!. U!.S!. military deployments in the Gulf War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War have reinvigorated prostitution and the trafficking of women in the Middle East!.

Another major change has been the reliance of the U!.S!. military on private contractors, who have now surpassed the number of soldiers in Iraq!. Public attention has begun to focus on the role of these contractors in U!.S!. war zones!. Less attention has been paid to how private contractors are changing the nature of military prostitution!. In the best known example, DynCorp employees were caught trafficking women in Bosnia, and some indications suggest that similar acts may be taking place in Iraq!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

it was more common then
because ppolice were not as tight and it was not as strongly against the law
there were also not as many peodophiles or rapists around then so it wasnt as dangerous
i dont think there were many for the world war 11 men they were extremely busy
but yeah a certain percentage would have beenWww@QuestionHome@Com

There has been prostitution since biblical times!. You may read about it below!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes women never worked till recentlyWww@QuestionHome@Com