Discussion and homework questions for week 9

For each reading assignment, please write a paragraph in response to those questions with an asterisk (*). Turn in your paragraph at the beginning of class on the day we discuss that reading assignment. Your homework should be typed or legibly handwritten. Make sure you put your name, date, course number, and the reading assignment on your homework. Each assignment is due at the beginning of class.

McKeganey & Barnard - ch. 5, 7, 8

Due: Monday, April 2

*1. Based on the evidence McKeganey and Barnard present, assess the role prostitution plays in spreading HIV in Glasgow.  Does prostitution appear to be a major contributor to the spread of HIV?  What factors account for this situation?

2. McKeganey and Barnard discuss the rituals prostitutes go through before and after working as part of their attempts to manage their identities.  Explain why, from an evolutionary perspective, it is so difficult psychologically for a woman to negotiate her involvement in prostitution.  Do you think clients have similar rituals and a need to manage their identities in a parallel way?  Why or why not?

3. How did prostitution seem to affect prostitutes' personal lives and relationships, outside of their prostitution work?

4. (for small group discussion) Speculate on as many of the possible consequences of legalizing prostitution as you can.  That is, what might be the effects if prostitution were legalized?