Stigmatization of prostitution

I am avoiding the research I have to do for my last paper in seminary....by doing other research. This is the first paragraph I came upon in a very old article about prostitution - but the problem is, this is still a very common belief. I share my frustration with you:

All acts of prostitution and solicitation are presently criminal offenses in California. Increasing public concern over rising crime rates and the rising costs of law enforcement and the administration of justice have caused some observers to question 'whether we, the public, are not asking the system of criminal law and justice to do too much.' In particular, attention has been drawn toward the area of 'victimless' crimes, those crimes in which an attempt to enforce moral norms replaces the protection of complaining victims as the primary impetus for the law. Prostitution in many respects is a 'victimless' crime, in that it often is a private transaction between willing participants.

How long until people realize that prostitution is not a victimless crime? How long will these women be stigmatized as women that enjoy selling their bodies - and actually PROFIT from doing so?

In a class on Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking I took at Fuller Seminary a professor shared this with us...I still find it hard to believe. We were discussing how a prostitute were to report cases of rape to police officers since they are stigmatized in this way. If they have sex all the time anyway, why would anyone beleive them when they say they have been treated wrongly. This professor told me that they have a file labled "NHI" they put reports in. This stands for "No Human Involved" and this is what they put any case for or against prostitutes in.

Article by: Jennings, M. Anne. California Law Review, Sep76, Vol. 64 Issue 5, p1235, 50p