Drew Payne’s Website

Sex in Cyberspace

(Men Who Pay For Sex)

It is said, prostitution is the oldest professional, then those men who visit prostitutes must be the oldest Customer Demographic, but what do we know about them? The majority of research done has focused on prostitutes, very little on the men who use their services. Sarah Earle and Keith Sharp (Lecturer with The Open University and Faculty Dean at The University of Gloucestershire respectively) make these men the focus of their research and raise some fascinating points.

 

This book is written from the sociological study, looking specifically at men who use the internet to find sex workers, but is still relevant to nurses and Healthcare workers. Earle and Sharp looked at attitudes to body image, intimacy and emotions, sexual acts and health risks with sex work among these men. Their findings make interesting reading, they deflate the myth that men only go to sex workers for sex and the image of the dirty old man.

 

This is a useful resource for any nurse working in sexual health or men’s health, but it is also eye-opening for other nurses. The internet has opened up the area of sex work but we know little about the men who use it, their motives and their health needs. Earle and Sharp have opened a window onto this subject but their work shows that there is a lot more to do.

 

There are two main drawbacks with this book. Firstly, there is the authors’ style which is very academic and is not the easiest of reads. Secondly, it costs £55; for a book less then 200 pages this is a lot.

 

This book takes a different perspective on this subject and is welcome for it, but at its price it maybe a library read for most of us.

 

Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Sarah Earle & Keith Sharp, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 135pp, ISBM: 978-0-7546-3669-4 hardback

 

 

Read the published review here