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Ihunna Obinna Innocent
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
'The Prostitute and Prostitution: Interrogating the Male Component of the Globe's Oldest Business'
It is often taken for granted that the notion of a prostitute images a woman. This picture is not only lopsided, it is half true and, therefore, replete with bias. It raises a problem in that it hides away the male component of that social experience. Indeed, available literature on the subject scarcely covers this lacuna that carefully codes or veils the man. Patriarchal social knowledge, then, is seen to posit the male gender as master, and prefers to seclude him from the stigma that is associated with the prostitute and prostitution. This yields a progressive scheme for promoting male hegemony over the female. This paper interrogates this age-long process for advancing the denigration of women. It critiques that lopsided engagement that seeks to hide away the male component of the prostitution problematic. We contend that no objectivity in analysis can be reached in the seclusion of a persistent patronizer, whose presence is the most desired complement for actualizing prostitution. Through empirical studies, we seek to firmly locate the man as the most crucial, but least challenged in the globes oldest business.
Bio: Ihunna Obinna Innocent is a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He holds B.Sc and M.Sc degrees from the same institution. He currently lectures in the general studies department of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Ihunna has research interest in Feminist Epistemology. He has a number of publications focusing on the gender question. His paper on 'Humanism and Women's Right: Interrogating the Cultural and Social Barriers to its Concrete Realization' was read at the 1st International Conference of the African Humanists held at the University of Ibadan in 2001. He is also involved in research in the area of cultural studies.
<obinocent@yahoo.com>