CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Prostitution
is said to have been in existence from time immemorial. It is one of the oldest
professions in the world and it is referred to in the bible and ancient times
like the Romans, Greek and Egyptian biblical times. Prostitution is the act of
involving oneself in illicit sexual intercourse or relationship with an
opposite sex, either for money making or for pleasure. It is the business or
practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment.
According to
Misi (2008), prostitution is the use of one’s body for the purpose of
remuneration or consideration of any form. The person who receives payment for
sexual services is called “a prostitute”
or “sex worker” (Wikipedia 2013).
This definition agreed that there is indiscriminate sexual relationship involve
in prostitution especially for monetary gains.
Furthermore, observations made by researchers’ shows that prostitution
has now become more lucrative in campuses or basically higher learning
institutions. This is because; men no longer patronize brothels and street
prostitutes. Rather, they prefer students.
It is mind
blogging that the Nigerian society is fast dripping towards social
backwardness. The idea of morality in Nigeria is fast losing its essence. It is
often said that the ivory tower is the last stage of molding leaders of
tomorrow, and if is such towers are now saturated with threats of prostitution
and its consortium, and then the nation is in deep crisis. Prostitution has
continuously been seen as a social problem for the society, especially in large
patriarchal settings. In such societies, the women that practice prostitution
are seen as immoral and blamed for the spread of HIV, based on the assumptions
of the definition of women as carriers of sexually transmitted diseases, and the
moralistic believe that sex is bad. AIDS is seen as a woman’s disease and as a
prostitute’s disease and prostitutes however are seen as representatives of
what is bad (McFadden 1992:189)
Olugbile (2008)
wrote that, peer influence is everywhere on campus, where everyone wants to be
like the others and end up prostituting. The bad girls that embrace
prostitution gradually corrupt the more conservative ones. There is no tertiary
institution that is immune of this crisis. Moreover, some universities are not helping
matters. Their fees are so high that it is hard to understand where they expect
the students to get the money from. Being in a precarious condition, they
resort to prostitution based on the fact that they are looking for money to
settle their school bills.
However, it has
been argued by some researchers that the rise in campus prostitution is the
direct result of the growing rate of poverty and hopelessness in country;
occasioned by failure of leadership over the years. While others are of the
opinion that the rise in campus prostitution in Nigeria is purely the product
of the society by the new corps of leaders in the country. These general
hopelessness and fear is what is propelling these mothers of tomorrow to sell
their God gifted body for a patterning sum for money to take care of themselves
in school amidst parental neglects and inactions.
Similarly, Misi
(2008) also pointed out that the politicians and governmental officials are not
left out in the cause of female students’ prostitution. According to him,
anytime this politicians and government officials visit the university town on
official work, the pimps recruit for them young university girls for their
relaxation and refreshment, at the end of which they settle then with huge sums
of ill- gotten money. Due to the fact that these girls glorify wealth, some of
them therefore do what it takes to belong by taking to prostitution.
Nevertheless, it
is very pertinent that over the years, Nigerian leaders have failed to come up
with a passionate moral blueprint and religiously implementing such policies
for the development of this country. What we have had was bonds of thieves who
do not care if others are starving, being or going astray in an attempt to
satisfy their insatiable greed. The failure of the Nigerian leaders to develop
the nation seriously led to a widened gap between the poor and the rich. This
gap has however come with its repercussion in the name of social vices such as
prostitution, drug trafficking and bankruptcy. A visit to females’ hostels at
night will make this point clearer as you would see all kinds of flashy cars
that comes to pick this young undergraduate girls for one function or the other
(Olugbile, 2009) which is rather pathetic for this nation and its people.
Furthermore, because
of the ways these students are used and their connections in high places, they
no longer respect their lecturers or constituted authorities in their
respective schools. It also serves as a hindrance to the excellence and quality
of graduates that turnout every year. The values of hard work, research and
intellectual pursuit has been thrown to the dustbin of history; as most of
these students have already believe that the only thing they need is to bribe
the lecturers involve both in cash and kind to get the required marks. It is
incumbent upon parents to seriously monitor and provide their wards with moral
upbringing that will be a light that will always guide them even in their
absence.
In conclusion,
prostitution is a bad omen for motherhood and excellence and unless this is
stopped, it will be self perpetuating and will have disastrous consequences for
the educational system, the economy and the society as a whole.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Prostitution has done much harm to
those that are involved in the business as well as the society at large. Owing
to the fact that most of these females undergraduates move out with unknown
clients, Uzokwe (2008) opined that they are easy tools in the hands of ritual
killers and kidnappers. Moreover, when a woman accepts money for sex, she has
conferred to the man the authority and power to endure brutality, rape and
other crime against her behind closed door which however may result to unwanted
pregnancy, miscarriage, emotional health consequences such as severe trauma,
stress, depression, anxiety and self medication through alcohol and drug abuse.
Based on the above, the researcher set
out to investigate the factors responsible for prostitutions in Ogun State,
Nigeria. Specifically, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, and Tai Solarin
University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.
1.3 PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
Against this
background, this study set out to investigate the prevalence of prostitution
among female students in tertiary institutions, and to also find out the
factors responsible for prostitution among females students. Thus, it intends
to:
1.
Explore how socio-economic factor could be
responsible for female prostitution in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
2.
Scrutinize how disrupted family background is
responsible for female prostitution.
3.
Investigate if poverty level influences rate of
female prostitution in tertiary institutions.
4.
Examine if peer group will play a role in cur burg
the rate of prostitution in tertiary institutions.
1.4 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
The research questions guiding the
study are:
1.
What
are the causes of prostitution among female undergraduates?
2.
What
are the effects of prostitution?
3.
Could
socio-economic factors be responsible for prostitution in tertiary
institutions?
4.
Could
poverty level and single parenting be a factor responsible for the high rates
of female prostitution in tertiary institution?
1.5 RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS
Based on the above research questions,
the following hypothesis would be tested.
Ho1 There is no significant difference in the
effect of single parenting and the factors responsible for female students’
prostitution in tertiary institutions.
H02 There is no significant
relationship between media influence and the factors that is responsible for
female involvement in prostitution.
H03 There is no significant
relationship between socio-economic influence and the factors responsible for
prostitution among female students in tertiary institutions.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The significance of this study is that
the findings of this research will provide information to female students and
other undergraduates from various institutions of higher learning, specifically
the females, on the dangers inherent in prostitution. The study would also be
useful and of great importance and value to most governmental and
non-governmental agencies and health educators in Ijebu ode, Ogun State in
planning functional educational programs or curriculum, and adequate campaign
against prostitution.
Lastly,
the study would help to increase enlightenment campaign to educate the youths
(specifically the females) and their parents on the havoc of female
prostitution and its prevalence on the individual and the society at large.
1.7 DELIMITATION
OF THE STUDY
The
delimitation of this study is the combination of the scope and the limitation
of the study.
This
study will be delimited to Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Tai
Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. The coverage
area of the scope of this study is the prevalence of prostitution among the
female students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, and the factors responsible for
this social vice in institutions in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
1.8 DEDFINITION
OF KEYWOPRDS
Prostitution: - is the act of engaging in sexual
intercourse or performing other sex acts in exchange for money, usually without
any emotional attachment. It is thus characterized by three elements, payment,
promiscuity and emotional indifference.
Prostitute: - A prostitute is a person who is
paid to provide sexual intercourse or other sex acts to male or female
customers. And in derogatory sense, the term has been used as whore, sluts etc. they are also
locally refer to as Olosho. The
usage of these words are however considered pejorative and as less value laden
terms. Also, those who work within the sex industry uses ‘‘sex worker’’ to describe someone who is a member
of the illegitimate profession.
Pimps: - Pimps are often used as synonym for
anyone who lives of the proceeds of prostitution. They are also called a ‘flesh
monger’ and ‘pander’. They manage people in prostitution in brothels and on the
streets for the purpose of profiting their earnings. pimp In some countries,
the term ‘pimp’ extends to a prostitute’s landlord, partner, co-habitat etc.
Brothels: - They are also known as bordello, whore house, cat house etc. They are establishments
specifically dedicated to prostitution. A brothel is a house where people pay
to have sex with prostitutes. They are usually found in rundown inner city.
Sexual Promiscuity: - This is the act
of indulging or having sexual intercourse with several casual acquaintances. It
also denotes sex with relatively many partners.
Johns or Punters: - They are some of
the terms used to describe anyone who buys the sexual services of another
person. A client is another name that
is used to refer to John or punter. It is quite straight forward if the
‘services’ are those of a consenting prostitute where prostitution is legal, ut
where the prostitute is under the age of consent, the client is known as ”a
pedophile”. Also, in cases where the client is far older than the prostitute,
he is locally referred to as an “aristo”.
Child Prostitute: - This is a
prostitute who is under the age of consent. The concept of child prostitute is
a different concept because its conceptualization varies depending on who is
using it or the country in which it is being used Misi and Louis, 2008). The
term child
prostitution and child
prostitute carries problematic connotations as both terms failed to
make it clear that children cannot be expected to make an informed choice to
practice prostitution themselves. However,
for the purpose of this study, a child prostitute is anybody under the age of
18 who involves in the rendering of sexual services for money.
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