Fewer men are paying for sex, survey suggests [View all]

[Jesus Malverde]

Could the oldest profession be losing its customers?

Fewer men say they have ever paid for sex — or been paid for it — than a few decades ago, according to a nationally representative survey. But scholars and activists are divided over whether men are really turning away from prostitution, or just becoming less likely to admit to it.

In a string of surveys between 1991 and 1996, nearly 17% of men said they had ever paid for or received payment for sex; that fell to 13.2% between 2006 and 2012. Last year, that number hit the lowest point since the question was first asked — 9.1% — though statisticians caution the unusually small number could be a fluke.

The survey drew no distinction between buying and selling sex, but men are widely assumed to be customers far more often than they are sellers.

The numbers seem to be shifting with the generations: Older men are much more likely to say they have bought or sold sex at some point in their lives. Younger men, in turn, have been less likely to report doing so than men of the same ages a few decades ago.

The numbers come from the General Social Survey, a project of the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago meant to track changes in American society.

The sweeping survey, funded principally by the National Science Foundation, has questioned more than 57,000 Americans since 1972. Nearly 11,000 men have answered the question about paying or being paid for sex since it was first asked in 1991.

Experts say there are trends that could be turning more men away from prostitution, including new technology and looser sexual mores.

If fewer men are paying for sex, "it's because they don't have to," said Christine Milrod, an independent researcher and sex therapist based in Los Angeles. "They can have sex for free."

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-paying-for-sex-20131102,0,796675.story#axzz2jh1mitT3