Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (42 page)

the teen runaway trying to scrape together enough money for food or drugs, the legal brothels in Nevada featuring a menu of different sexual options, male
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MARTIN A. MONTO

prostitution, sex tourism, and the crack house exchange of sex for drugs. To treat them all the same analytically or in terms of policy is to miss fundamental differences in the degree of power and consent of the participants.15

Many studies over the past two decades have documented the violence that often accompanies street prostitution.16 Prostitutes working indoors are also victims of violence, yet their vulnerability varies. For prostitutes in brothels, there is generally less risk, and, depending on screening procedures, escorts may be less vulnerable as well. Weitzer points out that there are many differences between indoor and outdoor prostitution and that policy decisions need to recognize these differences. He advocates a system in which indoor prostitution is decriminalized, while outdoor prostitution, which elicits greater community concern and is characterized by greater violence, continues to be the focus of authorities.17

Prostitution is the Private Behavior of Consenting Adults

While not necessarily held by the majority of the population, this misconception is particularly problematic. It is used by privacy advocates and participants in the sex industry, both customers and providers, to argue against policies restricting prostitution. To define prostitution as
private
,
consensual
, and
adult
misses the many different contexts in which prostitution takes place.

More importantly, it implies that prostitution is not an issue that warrants public concern or intervention. This notion is misleading on all three counts.

First, many participants in prostitution are not adults
.
18 Several studies document the existence of underage prostitution. Second, although it may appear private, violence and exploitation make it a public issue. Additionally, street prostitution is associated with a variety of other problems, including drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, disruptive traffic patterns, and harassment of neighbors by prospective customers, pimps, or prostitutes themselves.19 Third, the degree of consent in prostitution is best seen as a continuum.20 It is unreasonable to characterize prostitutes who are minors, addicted to drugs, facing dire economic circumstances, or participating as a result of fear of violence by a pimp as fully consenting. In contrast, other sex workers claim to have made a conscious and deliberate choice to participate. As is true with many other aspects of human behavior, the decision to participate in prostitution, and even whether it is really a decision at all, is shaped by a range of factors and contexts.

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PROSTITUTES’ CUSTOMERS: MOTIVES AND MISCONCEPTIONS

Prostitution Policy Is Carefully Planned

In general, public policy toward prostitution has emerged haphazardly as police and local officials respond to public concerns.21 As described earlier, the policy in many cities until about two decades ago was to arrest prostitutes, and this remains the default policy in some communities. Some would argue that this strategy was in line with the traditional perspective on prostitution, in which men were seen as naturally seeking sex and prostitutes were seen as temptresses who led them astray. Feminist concerns about the inequality of this policy led to greater efforts to arrest customers in the 1990s, but this involved little careful planning. Police actions have generally focused on the most visible forms of prostitution, targeting outdoor prostitution or organized operations that have become a public nuisance. More recently, public shaming rituals, such as broadcasting customers’ mug shots on television or the Internet, have gained popularity.22

Perhaps the most deliberate and planned response to the problem of prostitution has been the emergence of post-arrest diversion programs or “john schools” designed to deter arrested customers from re-offending. Started in 1995 in San Francisco and Portland, there are currently dozens of these programs in cities nationwide. Many of the programs involve the coordinated effort of police, district attorneys, and advocates. Their rationale is that male customers may lack information about the exploitation involved in prostitution, their risk of STDs, the legal consequences of arrest, etc. Once they become aware of these issues, customers may choose not to participate in the future. This deliberate focus on the demand side of the supply–demand equation targets the persons who are viewed as more clearly making a decision to participate in the prostitution exchange and can more easily cease their participation. A recent evaluation of the oldest of these “john schools,” San Francisco’s First Offender Prostitution Program, indicates the potential of these programs to reduce recidivism among customers.23 Data gathered from the program in San Francisco and two other cities are the source of the findings presented in this chapter.

R E S E A R C H M E TH O D S

Anonymous surveys were administered to men attending “john schools” in San Francisco, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Portland, Oregon prior to the opening session. More than 80% of men attending completed the surveys.

Refusals, late arrivals, and language barriers accounted for the non-completions.

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MARTIN A. MONTO

These programs allow unprecedented access to a population that has been long hidden from view. Relying on questionnaires administered to 1342 men attending the schools in San Francisco (N = 1230), Portland (N = 82), and Las Vegas (N = 30) from 1997–2000, I evaluated the attitudes and motives of customers. Additionally, researchers evaluating the San Francisco program provided me with a sample of 178 men who attended that program in 2007.

Although these men were given a different questionnaire, two of the items were relevant to the motives of customers (described later). The subjects of the study are not a representative sample of customers. Virtually all were arrested while trying to hire street prostitutes, rather than patronizing escort services or indoor establishments. Additionally, they were arrested in three western cities that may not be representative of the nation. Nevertheless, the data allow us unprecedented access to information collected from a population that had been previously inaccessible.

F I N D I N G S

Who Are These Men?

Table 10.1 describes the background characteristics of the men arrested for trying to hire prostitutes. The majority (58%) were white, 20% Hispanic, 13%

Asian, and 5% African-American. In general, the men were fairly well educated.

Thirty-five percent had completed a bachelor’s or higher college degree, and 36% reported some college work. Forty-two percent were currently married, 35% never married, 21% divorced or separated, and 2% widowed. Ages ranged from 18 to 84, with a mean of 37. Most (81%) worked full time. One-quarter had served in the military, similar to the proportion of adult men in the United States who have served. During their childhood years, one-third reported that their parents had divorced, 13% had been physically hurt for no reason, and the same percentage said they were touched sexually when a child by an adult.

A number of questions were identical to items on the nationally representative General Social Survey, allowing for comparisons between clients and the general population of American men. Clients were significantly (p < .05) less likely to be married and more likely never to have been married than were men in the national sample. Of those who were married, clients reported less marital happiness than the national sample. These differences suggest that prostitution serves as an alternative sexual outlet for some men who do not have a partner or who do not get along well with their partners. In addition, clients were much more likely to report that they had more than one sexual partner over the past year (53%) than the national sample of men (19%).

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PROSTITUTES’ CUSTOMERS: MOTIVES AND MISCONCEPTIONS

TA B L E 1 0 . 1 C U S T O M E R S ’ B A C K G R O U N D C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S

E T H N I C I T Y

( N = 13 13 ) ( % )

White

58

Hispanic, Chicano, or Latino

20

Asian

13

Black

5

Other or combination

4

L E V E L O F E D U C A T I O N

( N = 13 2 9 ) ( % )

Did not graduate from high school

11

High school graduate

18

Some college training

36

Received bachelor’s degree

24

Received graduate degree

11

M A R I T A L S T A T U S

( N = 13 2 8 ) ( % )

Married

42

Never married

35

Divorced

15

Separated

6

Widowed

2

W O R K S T A T U S

( N = 13 0 2 ) ( % )

Working full time

81

Working part time

7

Student

2

Other

11

A G E

( N = 12 4 8 ) ( % )

18–21

3

22–25

9

26–35

33

36–45

31

46–55

17

56–65

5

66 or older

1

P A R E N T S D I V O R C E D A S A C H I L D

( N = 13 4 2 ) ( % )

Yes

35

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MARTIN A. MONTO

TA B L E 1 0 . 1 c o n t i n u e d

T O U C H E D S E X U A L LY B Y A D U LT W H I L E A C H I L D

( N = 12 8 3 ) ( % )

Yes

13

P H Y S I C A L LY H U R T F O R N O R E A S O N A S A C H I L D

( N = 12 7 7 ) ( % )

Yes

13

S E R V E D I N A R M E D F O R C E S

( N = 13 4 2 ) ( % )

Yes

25

Sexual Behavior

Clients’ responses to questions about sexuality and the sex industry are provided in Table 10.2. Almost all the men reported having exclusively female sex partners during their lifetime. Asked the number of partners the men had in the previous year, one-tenth said they had had none, 37% had had one, another third had had from two to four, and 19% had had five or more.

Although some might expect men who solicit prostitutes to be regular users of pornography, fully 73% of respondents reported viewing pornographic magazines or videos “never” or less than once a month.

Nineteen percent claimed never to have had sexual relations with a prostitute, indicating that their only experience had been propositioning the police decoy. Another 22% claimed not to have visited a prostitute within the past year. Twenty-one percent reported having had sexual relations with a prostitute one time during the past year; 28% reported that they had been with a prostitute more than once over the past year but less than once a month; and 10% responded that they had been with prostitutes more than once a month. The average age of first experience with a prostitute was 24, although some had had their first experience as early as age 9 or as late as age 60. Fellatio was the most common activity with prostitutes (50%), followed by vaginal sex (14%) and “half and half” (fellatio and vaginal sex, 10%). In contrast, a study in Camden, New Jersey, found that vaginal sex was slightly more common than oral sex among its sample of frequent clients. Regarding condom usage, three-quarters reported that they always used a condom when having sexual relations with a prostitute, a figure similar to the New Jersey study.24

In terms of their views toward prostitution policy, three-quarters thought that prostitution should be legalized, and 69% thought it should be
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TA B L E 1 0 . 2 C U S T O M E R S ’ S E X U A L B E H AV I O R

S E X U A L O R I E N T A T I O N

( N = 12 8 3 ) ( % )

Strictly heterosexual

94

Experience with both

5

Strictly homosexual

1

N U M B E R S O F S E X U A L P A R T N E R S O V E R P A S T Y E A R

( N = 13 2 1 ) ( % )

None

10

1

37

2

17

3 or 4

17

5 to 10

12

11 or more

7

F R E Q U E N C Y O F S E X O V E R P A S T Y E A R

( N = 13 2 5 ) ( % )

Not at all

9

Once or twice

9

About once per month

15

2–3 times per month

20

About once per week

18

2–3 times per week

17

More than 3 times per week

7

Do not know

4

H O W O F T E N L O O K S A T P O R N O G R A P H I C M A G A Z I N E S

( N = 13 4 2 ) ( % )

Never

34

Less than once a month

39

One to a few times a month

17

One to a few times a week

8

Every day

1

Several times a day

0

H O W O F T E N W A T C H E S P O R N O G R A P H I C V I D E O S

( N = 13 11 ) ( % )

Never

37

Less than once a month

34

One to a few times a month

19

One to a few times a week

7

Every day

3

Several times a day

0

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MARTIN A. MONTO

TA B L E 1 0 . 2 c o n t i n u e d

A G E A T F I R S T S E X U A L E N C O U N T E R W I T H A P R O S T I T U T E

( N = 10 1 8 ) ( % )