Women as Perpetrators: Does Motherhood Have a Reformative Effect on Prostitution?

This article explores whether motherhood may have any restorative effect on prostitution. Section I provides an overview of the crime of prostitution. It analyzes the underlying themes of autonomy, power, authority, and control, and considers whether prostitution is an example of the ultimate loss of these qualities, or an exercise of complete freedom and liberty in autonomy. Section II discusses how motherhood affects the life of a prostitute. It analyzes current social science research and studies and explores maternal responsibilities in terms of potential work interruption, new personal roles, and anxieties associated with the work/family/crime triad. It also considers the moral concerns of prostitutes who become mothers. Section II analyzes whether motherhood is indeed a reformer of the criminal lifestyle of prostitution. Prostitute mothers share many of the anxieties of any working mother, with some dramatic departures due to the criminal nature of prostitution. Taking this into account, the article’s conclusion offers some remedies which may help reform women who are trapped in prostitution.