Dr. Kate Lister – sex work historian<\/a>:\u00a0‘It was actually the Victorian writer, Rudyard Kipling,<\/a> who first coined the phrase \u2018the world\u2019s oldest profession\u2019 in his short story, On the City Wall (1898). <\/em><\/p>\n The tale opens with the immortal line \u201cLalun is a member of the most ancient profession in the world\u201d. Since then, the expression has fallen into common parlance as a historical truth.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But, sex work is not the oldest profession in the world<\/strong>; anthropologists have found no evidence of selling sex<\/a> within numerous (so called) primitive societies. The northern hill tribes of Thailand had no word for prostitution, and Victorian explorers were surprised to discover that the Dyak people of Borneo had \u2018no word to express that vice<\/a>\u2019, and when Christian missionary, Lorrin Andrews, translated the bible into Hawaiian in 1865, he had to invent new words to teach the islanders about the concept of sexual shame, and infidelity. But, wherever you find money, you also find sex work.’<\/em><\/p>\n Kate Lister | Sex Work Expert<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"prostitution](\"https:\/\/www.amsterdamredlightdistricttour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Amsterdam-Prostitution-1905.jpg\")
\nProstitution in Amsterdam in the year 1905.<\/em><\/p>\nIs Prostitution The Oldest Profession in History?<\/h3>\n
![\"window](\"https:\/\/www.amsterdamredlightdistricttour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Amsterdam-Red-Light-District-Window-Prostitute-1968.jpg\")
\nAmsterdam, Red Light District, 1968. A window prostitute. Photographer: Cor Jaring<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n