Some Phenomenological Aspects of Prostitution in Croatia

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of prostitution in Croatia according to the prostitution categorisation into low, medium and high-level prostitution. The goal of the conducted study and this paper is to provide an in-depth insight into prostitution phenomenology, and based on that, on influencing factors, as well as about the possible directions of prevention regarding the etiology of prostitution. For the purpose of transparency and systematic presentation, semi-structured interviews with persons engaged in prostitution and police officers engaged in the prevention of prostitution were divided into mentioned prostitution categorisation and thematic division of the questionnaire was carried out according to the questionnaire presented in the introduction and presented in a table for the sake of transparency, after which the analysis strives to bring out conclusions about the possible patterns of the phenomenon itself. In addition, at the end of the research, the table shows the general police officers’ knowledge of the phenomenon of prostitution, their attitudes regarding the phenomenon itself and the current legislative framework. The results of research and analysis show that street prostitution has almost disappeared in Croatia, while medium-level prostitution is dominant because it offers a significantly higher level of protection and safety (both physical and from stigmatization, as well as police detection). High-level prostitution is more in the focus of new communication channels and media full of "successful" beauties who live "on the high side", and most often it is about women who have a certain legal "occupation/profession", while they engage in prostitution occasionally in order to improve their financial situation, while most of them grew up in average families without detected trauma or victimization.