The Hidden Half Life of Prostitute Women

 Prostitution is the action that one provides sexual services for earning money, sleeping places or other desires that are agreed with customers. The definition of prostitution and the way it is dealt with varies depending on the social, cultural and legal context in different countries. Prostitution is considered a criminal act in Iran, due to its criminalization, we face with a lack of reliable information and adequate studies as well as the strategies that women usually adopt for this challenging experience in their lives. Existing literature considers prostitution as one of the societal issues that is complex in terms of the reasons and contexts, and is mainly motivated by poverty, deprivation, inevitability and addiction. But the topics such as the meaning of prostitution for prostituted women, the misguided ways for them and the manners to achieve these goals are neglected. This study attempts to study the phenomenon of prostitution based on the narrative of women and beyond the stereotypes and categories that exist. The study aims to answer these question: what is the meaning of the act of perpetrating their act? On the other hand, what techniques or strategies do they use to adapt to the individual and alleviate the stresses of prostitution? This research is important because it is a novel study of how the practice of prostitution is organized by its underwriters, given the confidentiality of its practice.  

The present study is a qualitative study and the approach used in this research is the grounded theory (foundation data) that employs a set of systematic procedures to develop a theory based on induction and movement from the whole to the phenomenon. The statistical population of this study consisted of 17 prostituted women for understanding the act of prostitution and its related strategies through the grounded theory approach. To increase the validity of the research, we have exploited previous research too, to confirm the findings of the present research. To increase the research reliability, not only interviews have been recorded, but they have been monitored by the respondents themselves during interview process.  

The findings of the study show that participants have defined their activities in terms the way they address livelihood and support problems. The viewpoints of these women were that prostitution is an answer to addiction problem, livelihood problems, poverty, inadequate support networks and homelessness. They have equipped to sexual capital, recklessness, adventure, dare and courage, and lack of commitment, and disobedience which are all facilitators of the act of prostitution. The participants have been encountered with physical and psychological violence several times so they try to protect themselves from the cycle of harm and have used individual and group strategies for reducing the harm. In addition, theses ways include: to be adaptive, deviant, and outgoing, thereby reducing the pressures of prostitution or achieving other goals. In sum, the findings of the research in the context of the central category of ‘prostitution as despair and helplessness’ illustrate the theoretical model of this type of activity. Research findings in the context of this central issue include factors that explain the context of these street women, and show how street women experience prostitution and come along and justify it.