Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/222968

Title

Patrons of the sex industry: perceptions of risk

Author(s)

Plumridge, E. W.;  Chetwynd, S. J.;  Reed, A.;  Gifford, S. J.

Abstract

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.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

AIDS Care, Vol. 8, no. 4 (1996), pp. 405-416

Publication year

1996

FOR Code(s)

1117 Public Health and Health Services;  1701 Psychology

Keyword(s)

Attitude to health;  Condoms;  Female;  Health hazard;  HIV infections;  Massage;  Medical decision making;  New Zealand;  Prostitution;  Public health;  Risk assessment;  Risk management;  Risk-taking;  Sexual behavior;  Spouses

Publisher

Oxford Journals

ISSN

0954-0121

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540129650125605

Copyright

Copyright © 1996 Journals Oxford Ltd.

Additional information

S. M. Gifford is incorrectly named on the paper as 'S. J. Gifford'.

Peer reviewed