The real issue is not whether prostituted women and girls consent to sexual exploitation. It is how are they treated in conditions of sexual exploitation. Most women and girls, after having been recruited or procured, are either under the control of a pimp or in a system of self-obliterating domination and control. Such a system is evident in the Philippines outside of what was formerly Clark Air Base, where military prostitution has given way to sex tourism. Young women, recently recruited from poor rural areas, display new names, new clothing, new appearances and work under the surveillance of the mama sans, who carry out the dictates of the brothel owners.
Overt coercion is unnecessary because the domination is complete.
Not only do they callously view and treat prostituted women as sexual servants who must cater to their every misogynistic fantasy and demand, they then mete out this treatment on the non-prostituted women and girls in their lives. Not surprising, prostitution customers are increasingly turning to underage girls as protection from AIDS or a special thrill. When females are viewed as objects, it's easy to move from adult women to young girls and form prostituted native-born women to trafficked women and girls. Unlike domestic abuse, sexual exploitation makes billions of dollars that lines the pockets of pimps, traffickers, brothel owners, legitimate businessmen, and, sometimes, government officials. Conservatively estimated, the legal sex industry reaps an estimated 52 billion dollars a year annually, according to Forbes.