This study compared a sample of men (n=1,672) arrested for attempting to hire street prostitutes with nationally representative samples of men.
Those who attempted to obtain the services of prostitutes were drawn from three programs designed to educate them about the problematic nature of prostitution and its exploitation of women. Questionnaires were administered and returned anonymously prior to each workshop. Comparison groups were drawn from two nationally representative datasets, the General Social Survey of 1993, 1994, and 1996; and the National Health and Social Life Survey of 1992. To make the samples more comparable, only men ages 18 through 55 were included in the study. Characteristics for comparison were limited to 26 items that were included on the prostitute customer survey and at least 1 of the national surveys. The study found that customers of prostitutes were less likely to be married, less likely to be happily married if married, and more likely to report being unhappy in general than men in the national samples. The arrested men also expressed greater sexual liberalism and reported thinking about sex, masturbating, and participating in other aspects of the sex industry more often than men in general; however, most of these differences were small, distinguished more by degree than by the existence of the attitudes and behaviors themselves. 2 tables and 38 references