Describing John

We all know that prostitution is the oldest profession, and most people also understand that given the size and ubiquity of the practice of selling sex, it isn't just a small number of guys in trench coats who are paying for it. It's our brothers, fathers, community leaders, political figures, artists, it's occasionally women, but mostly it's any kind of man you can imagine, from every conceivable age, race, socioeconomic bracket, etc...

So why are they all called John? Why do they all get painted with the same brush? There are lots of reasons, but from my perspective one of the real problems is that it's very hard to get guys who pay for sex to talk about it publicly. And it's hard to understand something when you don't know what's out there. So every time I read a study that has asked men questions about themselves and asked them about paying for sex, I get excited.

This current study which will be published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, used survey data from over 2500 men who visited a UK sexual health clinic between October 2002 and February 2004. Here are some of the results of the survey analysis:

• Almost half of men who pay for sex already have a partner.
• One in 10 of the men said that they had paid for sex. Their average age was 34.
• Most said that they had paid for sex with women, and over half said that they had paid for sex while abroad. But four out of 10 said they had paid for sex locally.
• Just under 2% said they had paid for sex both in the UK and abroad.
• Two thirds said that they had paid for sex in the preceding year, and around one in four said that they repeatedly paid for sex. But the time frame ranged from 2 days to 30 years previously
• 43% said that they had a current partner when they had paid for the sex.
• 56% who said that they had had unprotected vaginal sex already had a partner.

The authors of the study point out that these numbers are likely an underestimate of actual behavior as many men would choose not to disclose paying for sex.

And while these statistics can't be seen as representative of any specific group of men who pay for sex, or men who pay for sex in general, they offer some information, which I for one and happy to have.

In the meantime, if you're interested in reading more about sex work, and you're tired of the same old perspective, I highly recommend a subscription to $pread Magazine, a New York based print magazine that is ostensibly by and for sex workers, but is really something everyone who has any interest in sex should read (at least once). And if you want to read another important take on this same research (and the media coverage it has garnered in the UK) go visit Dr. Petra Boynton's blog, where she responds to the media's tendency to blame the sex workers and ignore the clients.