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Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring diseases. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, or more inclusively, a sex worker.

Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country), ranging from being an enforced or unenforced crime, to unregulated, to a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (in-call). Another form is street prostitution.

There are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion.

The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients.

The position of prostitution and the law varies widely worldwide, reflecting differing opinions. Some view prostitution as a form of exploitation of or violence against women, and children, that helps to create a supply of victims for human trafficking. Some critics of prostitution as an institution are supporters of the "Nordic model" that decriminalizes the act of selling sex and makes the purchase of sex illegal. This approach has also been adopted by Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway, France and Sweden. Others view sex work as a legitimate occupation, whereby a person trades or exchanges sexual acts for money. Amnesty International is one of the notable groups calling for the decriminalization of prostitution.Q&A: policy to protect the human rights of sex workers
Amnesty International. Retrieved 23 November 2017.

Etymology and terminology

General

''Prostitute'' is derived from the Latin ''prostituta''. Some sources cite the verb as a composition of "''pro''" meaning "up front" or "forward" and "''stituere''", defined as "to offer up for sale". Another explanation is that ''prostituta'' is a composition of ''pro'' and ''statuere'' (to cause to stand, to station, place erect). A literal translation therefore is: "to put up front for sale" or "to place forward". The '' Online Etymology Dictionary'' states, "The notion of 'sex for hire' is not inherent in the etymology, which rather suggests one 'exposed to lust' or sex 'indiscriminately offered.'"

The word ''prostitute'' was then carried down through various languages to the present-day Western society. Most sex worker activists groups reject the word ''prostitute'' and since the late 1970s have used the term ''sex worker'' instead. However, ''sex worker'' can also mean anyone who works within the sex industry or whose work is of a sexual nature and is not limited solely to prostitutes.

A variety of terms are used for those who engage in prostitution, some of which distinguish between different types of prostitution or imply a value judgment about them. Common alternatives for ''prostitute'' include '' escort'' and ''whore''; however, not all professional escorts are prostitutes.

The English word ''whore'' derives from the Old English word ''hōra'', from the Proto-Germanic ''*hōrōn'' (prostitute), which derives from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*keh₂-'' meaning "desire", a root which has also given us Latin ''cārus'' (dear), whence the French ''cher'' (dear, expensive) and the Latin ''cāritās'' (love, charity). Use of the word ''whore'' is widely considered pejorative, especially in its modern slang form of ''ho''. In Germany, however, most prostitutes' organizations deliberately use the word ''Hure'' (whore) since they feel that ''prostitute'' is a bureaucratic term. Those seeking to remove the social stigma associated with prostitution often promote terminology such as '' sex worker'', ''commercial sex worker'' (CSW) or ''sex trade worker''. Another commonly used word for a prostitute is ''hooker''. Although a popular etymology connects "hooker" with Joseph Hooker, a Union general in the American Civil War, the word more likely comes from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlear's Hook area of Manhattan in the 1820s, who came to be referred to as "hookers". A ''streetwalker'' solicits customers on the streets or in public places, while a ''