Humanities desk
< June 21	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 23 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 22

Does sexual consent apply to prostitutes?

I am talking about legal prostitution. Suppose a person enters a brothel in Nevada (because that's the only place where prostitution is legal) and probably asks for a sexual service with a prostitute. Does the person in charge of the brothel ask the prostitute to give sexual consent to have sex with the client? If the prostitute refuses to perform the sexual service, then does the prostitute still get paid? Or will the brothel just find another prostitute, another worker, who is willing to satisfy the client's needs? Can the client ask the brothel in advance what kind of services they offer, who is available, and what services that specific prostitute will do? Or are all prostitutes willing to perform ANY kind of sexual service upon request and payment? SSS (talk) 03:41, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The article on Prostitution may provide some insights. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:05, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Just a small correction. Nevada is NOT "the only place where prostitution is legal". It is legal in many other parts of the world, including where I live. (And where that is doesn't matter.) Wikipedia is a global encyclopaedia. Obviously different legislation applies in different places. HiLo48 (talk) 04:52, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Of course consent applies to prostitutes. And of course all prostitutes won't do ANYTHING sexual. This sicko was so S&M he could only cum by humping disemboweled bellies, it'd be very hard to find even a suicidal human willing to die that way. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 04:56, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

In Victoria, Australia. If a prostitute does not give consent and you still have sex with her, then it is rape and you go straight to jail. And DO NOT expect the law to give you leniency because she is a prostitute.

Oh by the way, if the prostitute does not give consent then what occur between you and her is NOT prostitution, so whether the prostitute is working legally or illegally is irrelevant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.177.234.140 (talk) 11:38, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/victorian-sentencing-manual-update-takes-rape-of-sex-workers-more-seriously/news-story/eacb5b1f10cbc0cc7126c2797b989779

And now the Victorian Sentencing Manual has finally been updated so reduced sentences can’t be given to offenders who assault sex workers.

The manual now states “that the mere fact a victim of a sexual offence was a sex worker will, of itself, have no effect on sentence. Rather, what is relevant are the consequences of the offence for a particular victim”.

If a prostitute does not give consent, then she has to refund your money in full. 49.177.234.140 (talk) 11:30, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The IP is correct. If a prostitute refuses to serve a particular client after taking his money (realistically e.g. because whilst "inspecting" him "down below", she suspects he may have a sexually transmitted disease; or, in rare cases, simply because his "equipment" is too big), the client's entitlement by law is to a refund. By no means is he entitled to rape the prostitute. Forcibly taking his money back (if she refuses to return it) may be murkier. Seek legal advice. Note that here in Victoria, Australia, legal brothels and escorts are, oddly enough, regulated by the "Department of Consumer Affairs" (true story!), so the standard recourse to disputes over goods and services are available. EDIT: See here for the Consumer Affairs page re obtaining a sex worker's licence. The same website also addresses complaints about goods and services. Eliyohub (talk) 16:34, 23 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Since this is dealing with legal prostitution, it's simple enough to ignore the actual word "prostitution" and think in terms of a general payment-for-service transaction. Doing so, these ideas that apply to a variety of jobs become pretty apparent:

Being "on the job" doesn't excuse any kind of sexual assault and any employer or customer who argues otherwise should be responded to as though they made a threat of violence (because they did).
No service = no payment, both ways.
If one employee declines carrying out a particular service, another employee might carry it out. The employer may have a policy restricting certain services, though.
Most employees in customer services would rather not deal with known difficult customers and will either try to pass them off on newer employees who don't know better or onto more experienced employees who know how to handle those specific customers. A few might volunteer to take the difficult customer in exchange for some sort of favor. Notoriously difficult customers may be asked to leave by management or even banned from future transactions.
Working with customers' bodily substances (whatever they are and whatever the reason) is a health hazard. There are undoubtedly going to be government regulations that the employer should be aware of, and any employer worth working for will have additional policies (if only to reduce the chance of lawsuits). Employers who refuse to provide protective equipment and customers who expect employees to not take proper precautions can go to hell.
Employees who aren't bothered by anything (as long as they're getting paid) are either unicorns or else trying to make the best out of a situation they're stuck in.
Be nice to working folks, whatever their field. If tipping and/or gift-giving is a custom in that culture (and not prohibited by employer policy), do so for even adequate service.

Ian.thomson (talk) 17:17, 23 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]