Cross-cultural perspectives on sexual behaviour and prostitution.

The authors report preliminary findings from a cross-cultural study of sexual behavior and prostitution adopting a social construction approach to sexuality in which a range of sexual behaviors ideologies and subjective meanings are examined among and within prostitute groups. Male and female prostitutes working in the inner cities of Rio de Janeiro Brazil; San Pedro Macoris and San Cristobal Dominican Republic; and Nottingham England were interviewed. The vast majority of respondents in each site reported using condoms consistently with clients but to a significantly smaller extent with non-paying partners. 27% of the prostitutes interviewed in Rio and 23% in Nottingham reported that condoms had broken at least once in the preceding month while having sex with clients. Culturally-specific notions of prostitution and homosexuality are discussed followed by a section on sexual identity within such differing contexts. These preliminary data suggest that attempts to increase condom use among prostitutes will be most effective if they consider the individuals emotional relationships and the personal power associated with a controlled lack of condom use.