Asking About “Prostitution”, “Sex Work” and “Transactional Sex”: Question Wording and Attitudes Toward Trading Sexual Services

Figures & data

Figure 1. Acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

Respondents were statistically more likely to express a neutral position (5) on “sex work” when compared to prostitution or transactional sex.

Table 1. Predicting acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

	Prostitution	Sex Work	Transactional Sex
(Intercept)	1.81	3.15*	2.42*
	(1.07)	(1.06)	(1.16)
Age	0.01	−0.01	−0.02
	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)
Woman	−0.10	0.20	0.10
	(0.32)	(0.34)	(0.31)
White	−0.62	−0.83*	0.15
	(0.41)	(0.41)	(0.40)
Education	−0.01	−0.08	−0.24
	(0.18)	(0.17)	(0.18)
Income	0.03	0.10	−0.02
	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Religiosity	−0.07	−0.01	0.08
	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Political Ideology	0.08	0.04	0.02
	(0.05)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Party ID – Independent	−0.84	−0.41	−0.02
	(0.48)	(0.47)	(0.42)
Party ID – Republican	−0.55	−0.37	−0.18
	(0.38)	(0.35)	(0.38)
Gender Equality	−0.02	−0.06	0.20*
	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.07)
Non-Committed Casual Sex	0.68*	0.56*	0.45*
	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.07)
Positive Associations	0.98*	0.50*	0.35
	(0.18)	(0.19)	(0.19)
Negative Associations	−0.57*	−0.32	0.02
	(0.17)	(0.18)	(0.18)
N	200	199	204
R2	0.52	0.38	0.41
adj.R2	0.48	0.34	0.37
Resid.sd	2.04	2.11	2.11

* indicates statistical significance at p < .05; Standard errors in parentheses.

Figure 2. Effect of attitudes on non-committed casual sex on acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

Predicted probabilities calculated with 95% confidence bounds; Other independent variables held at their median.

Figure 3. Effect of attitudes on gender equality sexual freedom on acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

Predicted probabilities calculated with 95% confidence bounds; Other independent variables held at their median.

Figure 4. Effect of positive associations on acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

Predicted probabilities calculated with 95% confidence bounds; Other independent variables held at their median.

Figure 5. Effect of negative associations on acceptability of exchange of sexual services by question wording.

Predicted probabilities calculated with 95% confidence bounds; Other independent variables held at their median.