A recent UK survey revealed that just under half of the men who had admitted paying for sex already had partners, and that half of this group had unprotected intercourse with the sex workers they visited, according to the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. Even more alarming is the fact that these figures may be gross underestimates, as many men prefer to keep their sexual transactions secret. After sifting through over 2,500 standard health questionnaires filled out by men visiting a UK sexual health clinic between 2002 and 2004, researchers found that 1-in-10 men admitted to paying for sex. The average age of a punter was 34, with two-thirds of them admitting to paying for sex in the preceding year.
The researchers also found that punters seemed to fall into one of two camps: half said that they had paid for sex while overseas, while just under half said that they sought sex locally. The fact that fewer than 2 percent said that they had paid for sex both in the UK and overseas seems to indicate either habitual behaviors or opportunistic ones.
But what will probably concern women most is the finding that 43 percent of the men were already involved in a relationship when they paid for sex, and that 56 percent had unprotected vaginal sex. The survey revealed that unprotected sexual intercourse was most common among men who paid for sex overseas, while unprotected oral sex was twice as common among those seeking sex locally. But in either case, say the authors, the chance of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (STI) is a very real possibility.
Perhaps surprisingly, none of the men had HIV, but 1-in-5 did have STIs such as gonorrhea, Chlamydia and syphilis. The researchers add that their figures are probably less than the true numbers, as it has to be assumed that not all men are equally as candid about their visits to sex workers, let alone while they're in a relationship.
Source: British Medical Journal Specialty Journals
