What Drives Most Prostitution is Men.

[MineralMan]

80. That is not the logical extension of my argument at all.

When I was 22 years old, the USAF decided, in its debatable wisdom, that I would be best used if they sent me to a small base in Turkey on the Black Sea. That I didn't think so was irrelevant to the USAF, so I found myself there for 15 months. With a total population of 600, that base was all male, and everyone there was there for the same 15 months, because it was considered a remote base. It wasn't a bad place to be, it turned out, and the usual military nonsense was minimal. The work was challenging and the time passed fairly quickly.

At that time, in the mid-1960s, prostitution in Turkey was legal and government-run brothels were to be found in every city of any size, including the one near that base. A small minority of the men stationed at the base used those brothels. They were a topic of conversation, as you'd expect. Most of those stationed there, however, did not visit those brothels. There were many reasons for not visiting them, and those reasons varied from person to person.

I was one of the people who did not visit them. I could have, but did not. My reason was that I found the idea of paying a stranger for sex unpleasant. I also knew that the women in those brothels were generally not there voluntarily. They were repaying debts of some kind, and were shunned by Turks, if they ventured out of the brothels.

Some men I knew did use those brothels. I never really understood the attraction, frankly. No sex with others for 15 months. I was not surprised that I survived that just fine. Imagine that...