PROSTI‘TUITION’ : a case study on prostitution of underprivileged students in Daet, Camarines Norte.

Abstract

This study entitled, Prosti‘tuition’: A Case Study on Prostitution of Underprivileged Students in Camarines Norte was conducted to determine the factors that have led and kept underprivileged students in the flesh trade; to describe and analyze the profile and life experiences of these young women; to find out if other than the students, are there other people whose main reason why they go into prostitution is to finance the education of their family members and to formulate recommendations that could make significant contribution in addressing the problem. The researcher had an intensive research using primary and secondary sources in order to have an in-depth analysis on the issue. Participatory observation was done to gain better understanding of the situation of the people involved and documented cases and library sources were used to further support the analysis. Purposive Non-Probability Sampling Technique was used as the research design since it involves a hard-to-find target population and it is impossible to list all student prostitutes in the area and to sample randomly from the list. The ‘push factors’ that emerged as the reasons why these young women are led to engage in the flesh trade are limited employment opportunities because of their young age, the expectation and responsibility of helping their families (‘bread-winner dilemma’) and they consider prostitution as a viable option to escape poverty. The ‘pull factors’ that have kept these young women in the flesh trade are the ‘quick, easy and large money earned’ as well as their prospect of a comfortable life. Nevertheless, two other reasons were found out which explain why these young female students engage in the flesh trade and these are intense aspiration for an education and weak parental guidance.