# Is prostitution the worlds older profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504 "2005-08-04T01:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/1 "2005-08-04T01:17:39Z")
This was brought on by this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=328088) I have heard this phrase many times but is it true? And how do they know? My own _opinion_ is that hunting or farming for trade/profit would be the first profession but I haven’t seen any sayings like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/2 "2005-08-04T01:37:09Z")
It is either prostitution or sheep herding. Of course they are the same thing in some places. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Lizzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Thin\_Lizzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Lizzy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/3 "2005-08-04T01:38:36Z")
I agree it was probably hunting or making arrowheads or something. Back in those days cavemen would not pay for sex, they would just drag her by her hair into the cave. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/4 "2005-08-04T01:44:06Z")
If we go by the biblical record, lying would be the olderst profession-Eve did it for free, and shortly thereafter a politician realized there was money to be made at the game. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/5 "2005-08-04T01:47:21Z")
I’m guessing hunting/gathering for barter goods is the world’s oldest profession, and the title simply got shifted to prostitution because it’s a convenient euphemism. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/6 "2005-08-04T01:52:51Z")
Eh spell checking, no good when a word is a word is a word, uh yeah I meant oldest. :smack: I hope everyone on here forgives me for my total lack of smarts. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/7 "2005-08-04T01:57:45Z")
I’ve heard it said that “only the priesthood is older than prostitution.” If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Way back in the day, when people were hunters or farmers, they were probably doing it to support themselves - not really a profession. On the other hand, we’ve had religion for a hell of a long time, and tribes had shamans and high priests and other figures recognized by the public as religious leaders. Therefore I’d say that priesthood may well be older than prostitution. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/8 "2005-08-04T02:06:45Z")
I believe that something akin to prostitution is found in some primates (Chimpanzees? Bonobos?). Males will bring offer gifts of food to females in exchange for sexual favors. I would guess that some sort of direct _quid quo pro_ of exchanging gifts for sex could well pre-date homo sapiens. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/9 "2005-08-04T02:07:59Z")
> [@Thin Lizzy](#): > > I agree it was probably hunting or making arrowheads or something. Back in those days cavemen would not pay for sex, they would just drag her by her hair into the cave. Well, stone knapping is a very specialized job and it originated before Homo Sapiens Sapiens were on the scene. Also, there is no evidence of hair dragging rape occuring. Perhaps the OP wants to narrow down the scope of the question? ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/10 "2005-08-04T02:15:39Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Well, stone knapping is a very specialized job and it originated before Homo Sapiens Sapiens were on the scene. Also, there is no evidence of hair dragging rape occuring. > > Perhaps the OP wants to narrow down the scope of the question? What came first Farmer growing an extra whatever and trades it for an arrowhead A woman who trades her body for food. A person making a fire and trading some flames for an arrowhead or food. On a consistent basis I guess to make it a “profession” right? I mean I once defended myself in court that didn’t make my profession a lawyer. Priesthood sounds like it may very well be, but then again I have no clue, maybe if someone knew how the term originated we can track it from there? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/11 "2005-08-04T02:20:34Z")
> [@LostGoals](#): > > What came first > Farmer growing an extra whatever and trades it for an arrowhead > A woman who trades her body for food. > A person making a fire and trading some flames for an arrowhead or food. I’m pretty sure that basic stone knapping and fire were both around long before agriculture. There would NO WAY of telling when somebody first traded sex for anything. That sort of thing just doesn’t survive in the archaeological record. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/12 "2005-08-04T02:22:08Z")
> [@Thin Lizzy](#): > > I agree it was probably hunting or making arrowheads or something. Back in those days cavemen would not pay for sex, they would just drag her by her hair into the cave. That’s an ugly and untrue stereotype! We Primitive-Americans woo with booze, trendy mammoth skins and risky demonstrations of fire-making prowess just like the rest of you! ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/13 "2005-08-04T02:52:56Z")
The problem is trying to decide what constitutes a profession. People have been trading tools and artworks for millenia, probably ever since we learned how to make tools, which would put artist and toolmaker on par with prostitute for oldest act performed for profit or reward. It’s imposile to say which cam first. If we define profession as what a person does as their primary source of income, then prostitution can’t have been the first. People needed to have excess food before there was enough for anyone to make aliving from. HGs and early farmers simply couldn’t survive from prostitution, though they may have used it to supplement their income. It wouldn’t have been until farming was well developed that people started producing and storing grains that anyone would have been far enough ahead to support someone else who didn;t do enough work to feed himself. Even then it seems unlikely that it would have been prostitutes who first stopped producing enough food to feed themselves. By that stage semi-professional preists, administrators and judges would all have been in existence ( and the three professions weren’t separate at first). I’d say that prostitute would have occured fairly early on, but I can;t see any reaosn why they would predate scribes, judges, administrators, messengers/scribes and numeorus other “professions”. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/14 "2005-08-04T03:16:18Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > There would NO WAY of telling when somebody first traded sex for anything. That sort of thing just doesn’t survive in the archaeological record. Nor would there be much in the early archaeological record about religious beliefs. Even if an early carving were found that was a representation of a tribal god, how could we not known it wasn’t just aesthetic art? When religion began exactly is unknowable. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/15 "2005-08-04T03:18:49Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I’d say that prostitute would have occured fairly early on, but I can;t see any reaosn why they would predate scribes, judges, administrators, messengers/scribes and numeorus other “professions”. Oh, c’mon. Fucking predates administrors by FAR. 😉 And, writing is fairly recent. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/16 "2005-08-04T05:55:20Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Oh, c’mon. Fucking predates administrors by FAR. Not around here. Where I work everytime something gets fucked an adminstrator is always responsible. 😉 > [@](#): > > And, writing is fairly recent. True writing is fairly recent. Various mnemonics used by messengers have existed far longer and may be as old as the human race itself. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/17 "2005-08-04T06:04:03Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > And, writing is fairly recent. Depends on your definition of writing. There seem to be some that want to preserve pictures written on cave walls with the juice of berries. Just saying. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/18 "2005-08-04T08:42:07Z")
Hmm. Certain agricultural, craft, military and administrative professions might pre-date it, but I’d say prostitution is the oldest job in the service sector. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/19 "2005-08-04T09:48:53Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > If we go by the biblical record, lying would be the olderst profession-Eve did it for free, and shortly thereafter **a politician** realized there was money to be made at the game. Aren’t these two descriptions of the same profession? 😉 > [@Argent Towers](#): > > I’ve heard it said that “only **the priesthood** is older than prostitution.” ditto… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504/20 "2005-08-04T13:46:28Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > If we go by the biblical record, lying would be the olderst profession-Eve did it for free, and shortly thereafter a politician realized there was money to be made at the game. Forgive my ignorance. Eve lied? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-prostitution-the-worlds-older-profession/315504.md?page=2)