Researching prostitution: complexity of the subject, analytical frameworks, and controversies

Abstract

This article sets out the key factors that impede sociological inquiry into prostitution, the approaches and frameworks adopted for this purpose, the frictions affecting the main approaches taken, and the challenges facing the scientific-social study of the phenomenon. Investigating prostitution poses difficulties because of the complex and controversial nature of this subject, the different perspectives from which it is studied, and the challenge of trying to avoid the moral and ideological disputes associated with this social practice from its origins. By adopting an objective and sufficiently detached position, this paper seeks to overcome the permanent controversy that dominates academic debate on this subject.