Patrons of the sex industry: perceptions of risk.
This paper reports on an in-depth study of how men who buy sex construe risk in relation to their sexual activities. Twenty men were contacted in a massage parlour, four more through sex workers or newspaper advertisements. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were recorded. Two main discourses were articulated by the men to "manage' risk. Parlour clients articulated a discourse of the "cordon sanitaire' which they defined in various way to encompass elements of both commercial and non-commercial sex. Most felt while they operated within this they ran only those risks inevitable in life. Outside the cordon were dangerous venues, especially the streets. A few felt either fatalistic or invulnerable about possibilities of risk even within this "cordon sanitaire'. Street clients articulated a different discourse about risk, based on a strategy of discrimination between women.
Plumridge
E W
EW
Department of Public Health and General Practice, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.
Chetwynd
S J
SJ
Reed
A
A
Gifford
S J
SJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017280:Condoms; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D018454:Spouses