Re: History of Professions
Prostitution is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” While the trade was actually superceded by hunting and farming, it has been around far longer than most people might realize.
One of the earliest known civilizations to refer to prostitution was the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia, which is modern Iraq. They referred to prostitutes as kar.kid. According to the book The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesopotamia by Gerda Lerner, the Sumerians mention prostitution as a profession in a list that dates back to ca. 2400 B.C. The assumption is that prostitution was connected to a temple service, Lerner wrote.
In 500 B.C., brothels began appearing in Greek society. Prostitutes — or pornes, as they were called — could be independent, but they were required to dress in distinctive clothing and had pay taxes to the government. Both males and females worked in the profession, although the male prostitutes were commonly adolescents. 
Prostitution was legal, or at least tolerated, in most parts of the world until about 590 A.D., when the King of Spain banned the practice in his country. The men who patronized the women were not punished for their activities, but the women were whipped and exiled. ( 
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In 1161, King Henry II took an open-minded attitude toward prostitution. Rather than make the practice illegal, he decided to regulate it by requiring that prostitutes in London be single and that brothels submit to **weekly inspections. **
Roughly 200 years later, Italy took a unique stance on prostitution. According to About.com, the Great Council of Venice declared the practice “absolutely indispensable to the world.” From there, government-funded brothels began to pop up throughout the country during the 14th and 15th centuries.
According to the British television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl, ** 4 percent of the residents of New York — an estimated populous of 250,000 — were working as prostitutes in 1831.** The trade flourished from there, but in 1875, the U.S. government took a sterner stance on the profession and passed the Page Act of 1875, a federal law that outlawed the practice of importing women into the country for the purpose of prostitution.
By 1910, the U.S. government estimated that 1 out of every 50 American women were working as prostitutes. Perhaps that number influenced lawmakers to pass the Mann Act that same year. The federal law was against “prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” According to prostitution.procon.org, the law dealt with forced prostitution as well as harboring or transporting immigrant prostitutes across state lines.
In 1999, Sweden took a unique approach, deeming female prostitution as violence against women, the BBC reported. As a result, only the men who patronize them are considered criminals. The following year, the Netherlands took a different approach by legalizing brothels as long as certain conditions — such as the prostitutes be of age and obtain a work permit — are met. Germany took a similar approach in 2002, saying that prostitution is legal if a formal contract is in place between the prostitutes and the individuals who patronize them. New Zealand also legalized the practice in 2003.
In 2009, Norway made prostitution illegal. That same year, Taiwan took a completely different tack and legalized the business, according to prostitution.procon.org.
Most recently, in September 2010, an Ontario, Canada, court struck down several provisions within the country’s anti-prostitution laws, CTV News reported. The practice was not illegal in that country, but the laws in place made nearly everything related to prostitution, including operation of brothels, a crime. The government is now attempting to enact new laws in an effort to keep the country from becoming a destination for sex tourists.
While prostitution is illegal in nearly every U.S. state, the practice continues today. According to Associated Content, citing data from Secret Diary of a Call Girl, nearly $14.5 billion dollars is spent on prostitution every year and more than $23 million a year is spent enforcing prostitution laws.
Taken from: discovery.com
