Male Clients of Female Street Prostitutes: Unseen Partners in Sexual Disease Transmission

Semistructured interviews about sex behavior and attitudes were conducted with 50 male clients of female street prostitutes in Camden, New Jersey. Both duration (from three months to 20 years) and frequency (twice per year to 16 times per month) of prostitute contact were reported. Almost half the client respondents also dated prostitutes in other cities and states. Fellatio was the most popular sex act performed with prostitutes, followed by vaginal intercourse, kissing, and other acts. Twenty men out of 49 reported using condoms for commercial sex, but only five were carrying a condom at the time of interview. Clients reported cleanliness, inexperience, and lack of drug use as desirable traits of sex workers. Participants discussed reasons for nonuse of condoms, preference for fellatio, condom negotiation, and beliefs about preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).