Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2016 The nI ternet, Prostitution, and Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms? Maryssa Brogis Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Criminology Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Law and Economics Commons Recommended Citation Brogis, Maryssa, "The nI ternet, Prostitution, and Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms?" (2016). Honors Theses. 278. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/278 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Internet, Prostitution, and Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms? by Maryssa J. Brogis ********* Submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for Honors Department in Economics Honors Department in Women’s and Gender Studies UNION COLLEGE June, 2015 Abstract BROGIS, MARYSSA The Internet, Prostitution, and Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms? ADVISORS: Professor Lewis Davis and Professor Lori Marso Prostitution is often debated as an illegal activity that causes individual and social harms. This study uses feminist theories on prostitution in conjunction with econometric tools to find if prostitution can actually reduce social harms such as rape. Prostitution is a highly debated subject within feminist literature, as some believe prostitution is considered legitimate work, while others view prostitution as extremely harmful toward women and an act that perpetuates female submission.