Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Why are young men more likely than young women to sell sex?

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1

    Default Why are young men more likely than young women to sell sex?

    I have to apologise if this thread is inappropriate or upsetting. If anyone has an issue with it, holla

    A recent article in a local paper mentioned that about twice as many young men have at some point sold some form of sexual services compared to women in the same groups. I haven't yet had the opportunity to dig into the studies (to determine for example how transgender participants were categorised by the researchers), but from the discussion I gather that these results have been replicated--in several European countries--among young men and women in both the general population as well as in groups of LGBT youth. The results of those studies can't be generalised to the world as a whole and probably can't be used directly in a discussion of eg. trafficking/slavery and the like without a number of qualifications.

    Anyway, a discussion of this article on a Facebook group (brought on by someone's perception that, in discussions of prostitution in Sweden, the public and media focus has been more or less exclusively on women, thus rendering boys and men who sell sex invisible) has made me wonder:

    Are young men more likely than young women to sell sex? (in the western world, I guess)

    If so, why?

    If not, what are possible explanations for the findings in the studies that have found such a difference?

    In the discussion, a social worker working with at-risk youth mentioned that, in her experience, boys and young men were more likely to sell sex as a form of self-injury. Is that a plausble explanation? Can this have anything to do with the greater risk of being subjected to--often violent--discrimination?
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  2. #2
    Not having seen any of the supporting materials, I'm willing to speculate three things-

    1) Many of the men may have engaged in some kind of sexual transaction as part of a difficult coming-out process (though this seems less likely in Tolerant Swedistan). Is this the self-injury issue you saw discussed?

    2) Men transacting in sexual services is arguably less stigmatized by our patriarchal culture. Reduce the incentive not to sell sex in some fashion and people tend to sell sex more under the radar.

    3) Guys have a looser definition of selling sex which the research was not able to control-for.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •