Prostitution is the provision of a sexual act in exchange for compensation, usually money. Females make up the majority of prostitutes, but males also account for a significant portion. The sex industry contributes approximately $14 billion annually. Although prostitutes usually enter of their own free will, some of them are victims of human trafficking or sex trafficking. Immigrants may be forced to engage in sex work to repay debts associated with their migration and may face threats of deportation or violence against their family members. However, most of them stay because they feel they cannot leave because they feel unsafe or threatened. Prostitutes are illegal in most countries, which makes their job even more difficult. These people suffer daily discrimination and harassment from people they don't even know, including and especially their customers. In this article I argue that every day they risk the dangers of physical violence, criminalization and emotional trauma just for being sex workers because people see them as less. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Physical dangers from sex work include both violence and sexually transmitted diseases. Among the sexually transmitted diseases that can be contracted is HIV. HIV interferes with the body's ability to fight infections and ultimately leads to inevitable death because there is no known cure for this disease yet. According to “Prostitution”. customers often offer more money for unprotected sex because men feel there is more “pleasure” for them when they don't use a condom, which only increases the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Another sexually transmitted disease that sex workers can contract is bacterial vaginosis. It is the cause of unprotected sexual intercourse and recent intravaginal cleaning. About 70% of women affected by this disease, also known as BV, are sex workers. BV can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, HIV, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Violence is something sex workers experience often, usually at the hands of men. Sex workers face high rates of violent assaults in their personal and professional lives (Boynton). This includes kidnappings, robberies, murders and beatings. Sex workers often work under a procurer, more commonly known as a pimp. It recruits, provides for their basic needs, provides them with clients, plans their working hours and takes a share of their earnings. They can use violence, threats and drugs to exert control over sex workers, for which he is “responsible”. Another very serious physical danger that some, if not all sex workers often deal with is rape or some type of sexual assault. There are very few reliable statistics regarding rape among prostitutes because a huge number of survivors do not report it. According to “Sex Workers Don't Deserve to Be Raped,” there is a 45 to 75 percent chance that sex workers will experience sexual violence at some point in their careers. It turns out that serial rapists target prostitutes first, mainly because they know the police will do little or nothing to arrest him. For example, luxury escort Veronica Monet was a victim of rape at the hands of a client. Monet tried to warn other prostitutes about the man, but three weeks laterthe same man raped another prostitute. However, when she fought back, he stabbed her in the face. This is only a small part of the sexual violence they experience and goes unnoticed due to the criminalization and discrimination of sex workers. The final physical danger I talk about in this article is human trafficking. Human trafficking and sex trafficking occur when someone is kidnapped to be purchased and transported for illegal work or to other people. Since most sex workers find clients on the streets, they are an easier target and many are victims of human trafficking. The dangers of sex work are not limited to the physical. Causes of criminalization of prostitutes a negative view of sex workers, who are often defined as sluts, whores and who lack respect for themselves. The criminal justice system and police have failed sex workers on so many occasions when it comes to rape and sexual assault. Both of these powers treat sex workers as if rape were just an “occupational hazard” of their work. “When sex workers are afraid of the police, the world becomes an even more dangerous place for every single woman.” Their fears are based on the realities and personal experiences of a justice system that criminalizes their way of life. Sex workers who report sexual assault to the police may be laughed at, ignored, accused of lying, arrested, or worse. Judges could use their jobs against them in court, forcing them to go without justice. The New York State Rape Shield Law of 1975 protects rape victims from having their sexual histories used against them in criminal cases. However, this law does not apply to women convicted of prostitution in the three years preceding the case. This simply shows how, even when these women seek help, their cries for help go unheard. Another example of injustice would be that in 2007 a Philadelphia judge dismissed rape charges against a man who staged a gang rape of a prostitute at gunpoint. The judge's reasoning was that the crime was simply a "theft of services". “Criminalization allows people to imagine that we have no borders, voices or workers' rights. It allows them to forget that we can say “no” too. There is strong evidence to suggest that decriminalization can protect both sex workers and all women from violent crime. For example, sex work crimes in Rhode Island decreased by 31% after decriminalizing indoor prostitution for 6 years. Similar statistics were also found when Germany and New Zealand decriminalized sex work. Those who hold power in the criminal justice system are also known to prevent sex workers from moving forward in their personal lives, making it much more difficult for them to exit the industry even if they really want to. As mentioned in “Sex Workers Don't Deserve to Be Raped,” in most parts of the United States former prostitutes can be fined for previously working in the sex industry. Even when sex workers want to transition to “normal” work, criminalization makes this difficult. The way the criminal justice system and most of society treats sex workers only makes the situation worse and allows rapists to walk around free while victims are oppressed and, in most cases, blamed of their rape. Mental and emotional trauma is a problem.