Violence

We investigated attitudes, behaviors, and demographics of 110 men who bought sex in Scotland. Those men who most frequently used women in prostitution were most likely to have committed sexually aggressive acts against nonprostituting women. High-frequency users of women in prostitution used pornography more frequently than men who used women in prostitution less frequently. We found strong associations of these men’s acceptance of rape myths with their hostile masculine identification and their acceptance of prostitution myths. Acceptance of rape myths was associated with the men’s belief that prostitution prevents rape of nonprostituting women. The men’s perceptions of prostituted women’s experiences of prostitution tended to differ from the actual perceptions of prostituted women in other studies. Deterrents to prostitution include public exposure or jail time if the men were convinced that laws would be enforced. The ambivalence and guilt of men who buy sex may serve as points of entry for prostitution prevention programs.