• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.377-398
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in men's thinking and attitude on prostitution and gender based on the previous experience of buying sex. It was an exploratory survey for planning future studies and movements for changing a way of thinking in relation to prostitution. A total of 1328 male adults(above 19 years) completed a questionnaire consisting of general thinking of buying sex, tolerance limit of sexual behavior, and sex role egalitarianism. The respondents answered differently in the probability of paying for sex in future and the way how to get a sex information according to the previous experience of buying sex. Those respondents who had paid for sex, had higher scores on three types of sex attitude measures than those who did not. The previous experience of buying sex was significantly correlated with sub-factors of buying sex, tolerance limit of sexual behavior, and sex role egalitarianism except for the sub-factor on recognizing a sex worker as a victim (factor 4 of buying sex). These results suggest that men who had paid for sex had more traditional gender-stereotypes and attitudes. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed in a feminist perspective.