Does having sex with a prostitute constitute rape?

[quencher]

A thread triggered this for me so I have decided to ask the question. If you consent to be paid for sex but don't feel like sleeping with the customer, are you being raped?

Actually we can legalise against it

I'd like to see every man who procures a prostituted female prosecuted for sexual assault and put on the sex offenders register

Ffs please stop using that ghastly term 'sleeping with' to describe sex with prostitutes.

I went to a very interesting talk by a representative from Stop The Traffik, and he said that men who don't ask prostitutes if they've been trafficked, or don't care, are not having sex with consenting persons.

I agree And Purchasing (not selling) sex should be a criminal offence.

Do you think escorts/prostitutes consider themselves as having been raped?

I don't really think that matters. When eg children groomed for sex, the child may believe they are in a loving consensual relationship. Doesn't mean that they are...

i dont supppose many prostitutes sleep with their clients because they enjoy it but if they didnt have sex with their clients how would they get the money they need? vicious circle .

'You can't call every man that's slept with a prostitute a rapist though.. if they were a rapist they wouldn't pay for the sex'

Most will have done it despite not being in a position to know if the woman had any choice. Therefore they were willing to commit rape. My default assumption if I hear that a man has paid for sex, therefore, is that they are a rapist.
Some are just naive and don't realise she isn't doing it for fun, but I doubt that's the majority.

I would say that generally it is rape, yes.
Consent is not a commodity.

The issue though is that it's not possible to know which prostitutes are doing so willingly and which aren't. And as much as many don't want to believe it, there are prostitutes who work as prostitutes willingly. So with that in mind you cannot call every man who has sex with a prostitute a rapist, because some of them will willingly consent, others will have been coerced, and some of the men will force themselves on the women on the basis they have paid.

Without hearing each individual's own story you cannot define who falls into what category.

ITS NOT SLEEPING WITH.

i imagine the men dont care about the womens needs they are just paying for their own sexual release interesting debate.

I dropped my apostrophe in all my shouting there.

I'm perfectly comfortable calling every man who pays for sex a rapist. I cannot begin to imagine wanting sex with someone who wasn't freely, enthusiastically consenting to it. Throw the possibility of coercion, fear of violence, trafficking, drug addiction, the need to provide for children, etc into the mix, and how anyone can go ahead with a sexual encounter knowing that any or all of those factors are at play is beyond me. So yes, rape is a fair description in my opinion.

I've felt this to be the case for a while but I'm not eloquent enough to make the point. But I do agree that morally, sex with a prostitute is rape, even if that's not the case from a societal perspective.

As far as I'm aware I want nothing to do with any man who has sex with any woman and knows that she doesn't want to be doing it. I think that's the crux of it.

No judgment at all on sex workers. Just the users of sex workers.

Consent is consent.

There seems to be a blurring of the line in MN, sometimes, between enjoyment and consent. You can consent to something for whatever reason you want. Any other view is infantilising to women.

Coercion means a clear threat also, not nagging (impolite and self defeating but definitely not criminal) or sulking (same as above).

Sex with a prostitute is this not rape unless she is not consenting.

we live in a rough area i think there are a number of prostitutes near me i imagine they are doing it for drug money, dh says hes been propositioned going to our corner shop obviously he doesnt take them up on the offer but some men .

I think you're over-thinking this OP.

Sometimes I don't feel like going to work, I really don't want to. But I do anyway, I consent to work there because I need the money, I'm not a slave.

Same applies for a prostitute. They might not feel like it, but they do consent. Assuming they have the power to say no, they have consented to the transaction.

As a side note, I also escort (with one man only), and if I don't feel like it, I simply say no to the arrangement. But most of the time I love it.

Nagging, sulking and money are all coercion.

Beyond,

Not in law, for sure, and not in the dictionary definition of coercion. You may choose to redefine the word but many will disagree.

Wiki- "In law, coercion is codified as a duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in a way contrary to their own interests. Coercion may involve the actual infliction of physical pain/injury or psychological harm in order to enhance the credibility of a threat"

Interesting question OP. I find it absolutely mind boggling that men pay women to have sex, knowing it's highly likely they wouldn't unless it was for money. I can only assume it's the power that gets them off.

I believe it's rape because money is offered in lieu of consent.
Also very few prostitutes are "career escorts" who make a conscious choice to enter prostitution. Their need to make money for drugs or to feed their kids is exploited by men. Any man who pays prostitute should be honest with himself and not believe the myth of the happy hooker.

"Statutory definition of consent
Section 74 defines consent as 'if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice'. Prosecutors should consider this in two stages. They are:

Whether a complainant had the capacity (i.e. the age and understanding) to make a choice about whether or not to take part in the sexual activity at the time in question.
Whether he or she was in a position to make that choice freely, and was not constrained in any way. Assuming that the complainant had both the freedom and capacity to consent, the crucial question is whether the complainant agrees to the activity by choice."

I think it is pretty easy to argue that a prostitute is constrained in their choices, and not in a position to make that choice freely...

Even there was even the remotest possibility that the person I was about to have sex with might be trafficked, I'd walk away fucking fast. What normal person wouldn't?

I think that unfortunately a lot of punters probably like the idea that the prostitute could be a subjugated individual, actually.

It's a fucked up dynamic.

If you consent to be paid for sex

^^ The answer is right there, are you asking us for a second opinion...

If there ...

If you consent to a smack it's still assault