Half of the prostitutes in a new survey say they became prostitutes because of sexual curiosity, and 68 percent consider their line of work as part of their sexuality. Women became prostitutes for many different reasons, but they often feel stigmatised by society as needing help to stop their work fewer than half of the prostitutes have considered stopping , instead of society respecting their choice of work.
Child abuse is often regarded as a reason for prostitution by the media, politicians and general public, who feel the prostitutes need help to stop their work. But the survey produced no clear conclusion on this β some prostitutes were abused as children, others were not.
The SFI researchers calculate that there are a little over 3, prostitutes in Denmark, which is fewer than expected, for example because some prostitutes work at several clinics. The report is based on interviews with former and active prostitutes and with experts from the authorities and NGOs associated with the sex environment. A majority of female escort and female clinic prostitutes gave sexual curiosity as a reason for entering prostitution; many had great interest in sex before becoming prostitutes.
Almost half of the female escorts and just over a sixth of the clinic prostitutes started their work because they saw an opportunity to make money through sex. Street prostitutes, however, draw another picture: they are not in the business for the sex but to deal with problems such as drug abuse.
A typical story, according to the researcher, is that a man divorces a woman and takes all the money, and the woman then sees prostitution as the only way to earn a living. Secondly, the public debate about prostitution as poor wretches or happy hookers is distorted β most prostitutes are somewhere between these two extremes.
