Prostitution Fact Sheet

Prostitution Fact Sheet 

Adapted from the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence
Facts and Statistics, 1994


Most prostitutes have been victimized, at some point in their lives, by sexual violence. More than 90% suffered childhood sexual abuse, often incest. Many others have been sexually assaulted in the course of working in prostitution. About 75% were violently raped as adults in situations not involving their work.

At least two-thirds of prostitutes began working in prostitution before the age of 16. Young women and men often enter prostitution as a way of escaping an abusive home situation. They see prostitution as their only means of survival.
 

FACTS

• One million women and girls work as prostitutes. (Miller, JoAnn L. "Prostitution in Contemporary American Society" in Sexual Coercion, 1991)
• One percent of US women have worked as prostitutes at some point, with 4 years being an average length of career. (Lockett, Gloria. "Black Prostitutes and AIDS." The Black Women's Health Book, The Seal Press, 1991)
• There are 100,000 arrests annually for prostitution. (Bureau of Justice Statistics) 
• .5 - 1.2 million children are involved in child prostitution. There are at least 300,000 male prostitutes under age 16. (Schetky, Diane H "Child Pornography and Prostitution" in Child Sexual Abuse, Brunner/Mazel, 1988)
• In one study, 78% of adult prostitutes began prostitution as juveniles: 60% were 16 years of age and under, and some were as young as ten. (Silbert, Mimi H. "Treatment of Prostitute Victims of Sexual Assault" in Victims of Sexual Aggression. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984)
• There are an estimated 5,000 male prostitutes under the age of 14 in Los Angeles. (Crewdson, John. By Silence Betrayed. Little, Brown, 1988) 
•  27% of juvenile male prostitutes are involved in the pornography industry. (Schetky, Diane H "Child Pornography and Prostitution" in Child Sexual Abuse, Brunner/Mazel, 1988)   
• 73% of prostitutes reported being sexually assaulted as adults in situations unrelated to prostitution. Most of these were violent stranger rapes with physical injuries. (Silbert, Mimi H. "Treatment of Prostituted Victims of Sexual Assault" in Victims of Sexual Aggression. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984)