Prostitution in Hawaii is illegal but common. There are about 150

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s in

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

alone.

Legal situation

Under Hawaii Revised Statutes section 712-1200, both the buying and selling of sex are illegal, and also related activities such as

soliciting Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

, promoting

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, 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, n ...

and allowing premises to be used for prostitution, are prohibited. The penalty is a fine of up to and/or up to 30 days imprisonment. It was legal for Law Enforcement Officers to have sex with prostitutes if they were 'collecting evidence' of prostitution. A new law in 2014 outlawed this practice. A Bill was put before Hawaii's state government in January 2017, with the intent of decriminalising prostitution. On the second reading in February 2017 it was referred to the "House Committee on Judiciary" for further investigation and the case was adjourned ''sine die''.

History

Prior to European contact, there was no prostitution on the islands.

Polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

was common and there was no need for prostitutes. Once European sailors started to come to the island and offered money or goods for sex to the native women, prostitution started. The dock area of Iwilei grew into a

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

. A law was passed in 1835 that prohibited "illicit connections," including prostitution. This was soon followed by a "Law Respecting Lewdness". In 1860, the "Act to Mitigate the Evils and diseases arising from Prostitution" was passed. It required registration and periodic medical examinations for prostitutes. By the 1900s, Iwilei had become a closed stockade, its 5 entrances controlled by police. Inside there were brightly coloured houses where the prostitutes worked. Many of the prostitutes were Japanese. In 1898 there were 26 Hawaiian, 5 half-caste, 8

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, 2 British, 1 American and 115 Japanese prostitutes registered. Iwilei lasted until May 1917, when it was closed down due to pressure from moralists. The "bawdy houses" soon set up in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

. An era of unofficial regulation followed, which was endorsed by the US military. There were struggles between the police and military, neither wanting to be seen as being in charge of the

. During the early 1940s the area served 250,000 men per month, at a fixed fee of . On August 28, 1942, the prostitutes of Hotel Street (the main street of the red-light district) went on strike for better conditions and the right to work away from the brothels. The strike lasted 22 days. The best-known prostitute of the period was

Jean O'Hara Betty Jean O'Hara (1913 in Chicago, Illinois – 1973) was a famed prostitute in Honolulu's "vice district" during World War II. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was the only child of strict Catholic parents. Her father was a medical doc ...

. She is credited with inventing the "bull pen" system where a single prostitute would work three rooms in rotation: In one room a man would be undressing, in a second room the prostitute would be having sex, and in the third room the man would be dressing. With price controls circumventing the laws of supply and demand, O'Hara's system sped up the process and allowed each prostitute to see many more 'johns' every day. O'Hara later wrote her memoirs in ''My Life as a Honolulu Prostitute''. Following pressure from various groups, Hawaii's Governor,

Ingram Stainback Ingram Macklin Stainback (May 12, 1883April 12, 1961) was an American politician. He served as the ninth Territorial Governor of Hawaii from 1942 to 1951. Early life Stainback was born in 1883 in Somerville, Tennessee. His father, Charles A. Stai ...

, ordered the closure of the red-light district. On September 21, 1944, all the houses of prostitution were ordered to close.

Sex trafficking

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

is a source, destination and transit location for

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...

. Women from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Japan,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and parts of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

are trafficked to the island and

forced into prostitution Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appea ...

. Many are moved on to cities on the American mainland after a few months. Hawaiian women and girls are vulnerable to sex trafficking. In 2017 a Chinese national was convicted of trafficking. He brought in Chinese women to work in the Mayflower and Empire Relax massage parlors in Honolulu. He also trafficked women to work in massage parlors in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The Chinese owner of the Mayflower was convicted of attempting to bribe

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

agents. Both faced deportation. In January 2018, an American male was charged with prostitution and sex trafficking offences. He had "recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised, maintained, patronized, and solicited" by force and threats.

References

{{Oceania in topic, Prostitution in

Hawaii culture