This study describes the understanding of God by twelve prostitutes of the Street 24 de Mayo, Quito, Ecuador. This understanding is presented and analyzed from a psychological and theological perspective. A way to call the area of knowledge here described is phenomenology of religion. The interviews were conducted on December 15 through December 29, 2001. The thirteen interviewed sexual workers (one interview tape was damaged) belonged to the Asociacion Pro Defensa de la Mujer (Association Pro Defense of Women), which has four hundred and fifty members, all sexual workers. The recorded interviews were done at the office of the mentioned Association. Bolwby's (1969, 1973, 1977, 1980) attachment theory and Rice's (1980, 1989, 2001; and Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, Basinger, 1994) views on theodicy served as part of the theoretical framework for the study. A psychological perspective was followed when describing who God is; parallels where drawn between one's relationship with parents and one's relationship with God. In this study it was found that sexual workers see God as their protector and provider, not as the one who is to be blamed for their having to work in the sex industry, neither the one to whom they go in order to receive help to find another job.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study describes the understanding of God by twelve prostitutes of the Street 24 de Mayo, Quito, Ecuador. This understanding is presented and analyzed from a psychological and theological perspective. A way to call the area of knowledge here described is phenomenology of religion. The interviews were conducted on December 15 through December 29, 2001. The thirteen interviewed sexual workers (one interview tape was damaged) belonged to the Asociacion Pro Defensa de la Mujer (Association Pro Defense of Women), which has four hundred and fifty members, all sexual workers. The recorded interviews were done at the office of the mentioned Association. Bolwby's (1969, 1973, 1977, 1980) attachment theory and Rice's (1980, 1989, 2001; and Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, Basinger, 1994) views on theodicy served as part of the theoretical framework for the study. A psychological perspective was followed when describing who God is; parallels where drawn between one's relationship with parents and one's relationship with God. In this study it was found that sexual workers see God as their protector and provider, not as the one who is to be blamed for their having to work in the sex industry, neither the one to whom they go in order to receive help to find another job.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Toledo, Gerardo Alberto"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Religion","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ramirez-Johnson, Johnny","Simpson, Cheryl","Sorajjakool, Siroj"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2002-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:45Z","subjects":["Religion","Prostitutes - Equador; Prostitution - Equador; Prostitutes - Religious Life; God - Attributes","Quito","Ecuador; God - Psychological aspects; Phenomenology of Religion; Attachment theory; Sex Industry"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/453","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ramirez-Johnson, Johnny","Simpson, Cheryl","Sorajjakool, Siroj"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Toledo, Gerardo Alberto"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Religion"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Religion","Prostitutes - Equador; Prostitution - Equador; Prostitutes - Religious Life; God - Attributes","Quito","Ecuador; God - Psychological aspects; Phenomenology of Religion; Attachment theory; Sex Industry"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/453"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study describes the understanding of God by twelve prostitutes of the Street 24 de Mayo, Quito, Ecuador. This understanding is presented and analyzed from a psychological and theological perspective. A way to call the area of knowledge here described is phenomenology of religion. The interviews were conducted on December 15 through December 29, 2001. The thirteen interviewed sexual workers (one interview tape was damaged) belonged to the Asociacion Pro Defensa de la Mujer (Association Pro Defense of Women), which has four hundred and fifty members, all sexual workers. The recorded interviews were done at the office of the mentioned Association. Bolwby's (1969, 1973, 1977, 1980) attachment theory and Rice's (1980, 1989, 2001; and Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, Basinger, 1994) views on theodicy served as part of the theoretical framework for the study. A psychological perspective was followed when describing who God is; parallels where drawn between one's relationship with parents and one's relationship with God. In this study it was found that sexual workers see God as their protector and provider, not as the one who is to be blamed for their having to work in the sex industry, neither the one to whom they go in order to receive help to find another job.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Prostitutes' Understanding of God"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ramirez-Johnson, Johnny","Simpson, Cheryl","Sorajjakool, Siroj"],"dc:creator":["Toledo, Gerardo Alberto"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study describes the understanding of God by twelve prostitutes of the Street 24 de Mayo, Quito, Ecuador. This understanding is presented and analyzed from a psychological and theological perspective. A way to call the area of knowledge here described is phenomenology of religion. The interviews were conducted on December 15 through December 29, 2001. The thirteen interviewed sexual workers (one interview tape was damaged) belonged to the Asociacion Pro Defensa de la Mujer (Association Pro Defense of Women), which has four hundred and fifty members, all sexual workers. The recorded interviews were done at the office of the mentioned Association. Bolwby's (1969, 1973, 1977, 1980) attachment theory and Rice's (1980, 1989, 2001; and Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, Basinger, 1994) views on theodicy served as part of the theoretical framework for the study. A psychological perspective was followed when describing who God is; parallels where drawn between one's relationship with parents and one's relationship with God. In this study it was found that sexual workers see God as their protector and provider, not as the one who is to be blamed for their having to work in the sex industry, neither the one to whom they go in order to receive help to find another job.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/453"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"dc:subject":["Religion","Prostitutes - Equador; Prostitution - Equador; Prostitutes - Religious Life; God - Attributes","Quito","Ecuador; God - Psychological aspects; Phenomenology of Religion; Attachment theory; Sex Industry"],"dc:title":["Prostitutes' Understanding of God"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Religion"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:45Z"}