The Demand Side of the Prostitution Industry: An Analysis of Clients' Attitudes towards Women in Prostitution
Date
2017-09-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
On July, 2017, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in Israel approved a law designed to criminalize the purchase of prostitution services. The suggested law imposes a fine of 1250 NIS (440 CAD)1 on first-time offenders and creates a voluntary alternative to paying the fine – participation in a preventive training course. This research paper offers an alternative policy that would more effectively target the attitudes and beliefs of consumers and specifically, a correlation between clients' endorsement of violence towards women in prostitution and their membership in an online portal for consumers of such services. This research is based on an analysis of 750 posts written by 150 members of the online sex portal Sex Adir. Their statements about sexual encounters and women in prostitution were combed for violent expressions, based on a uniform definition of sexual violence. This data was then examined using several econometric regressions in an attempt to understand what influenced users to treat women in prostitution more violently. The following significant results were found: 1. Relatively new members of the sex portal had, on average, 2.27 more violent phrases than the rest of the users. 2. Relatively passive members of the sex portal had, on average, 3.7 more violent phrases than the rest of the users. 3. Any reference to a woman in prostitution as nymphomaniac or to her enjoyment during a sexual encounter increased the number of violent phrases by 1.86. This research paper claims that an anonymous online community, in which group identity is emphasized, manages to reinforce and re-shape the values and beliefs of its members. Moreover, Sex Adir may not only radicalize the rhetoric of portal users but reproduce this online violence in the streets. Thus, it illustrates how easily the prostitution industry could become more violent absent a policy for the treatment and education of men who purchase sex services. Therefore, this paper suggests that the attendance of first-time offenders in an educational and rehabilitative program should be mandatory. Such programs have already reduced recidivism among men arrested for soliciting prostitutes in several cities in the world. Finally, this study suggests that through these educational measures, a real change in the attitudes and behavior of the participants towards women in prostitution could be initiated.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Vaknin, Eden. (2017), The Demand Side of the Prostitution Industry: An Analysis of Clients' Attitudes towards Women in Prostitution. (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.