Demand for Sexual Services in Britain: Does Sex Education Matter?

We investigate the prevalence of factors associated with participation in the sex market among men resident in Britain using data from Britain’s National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-2, 199-2001,Natsal-3, 2010-2012). The percentage of men asking for paid sex is about 12 per cent in 2010-2012 and it has increased from 10 per cent in 1999-2001. We estimate both the probability of having had sex with a prostitute and the expected number of times men had been together with prostitutes, conditional on participating in the sex market. We find that sex education in school has a negative and significant role in the demand for paid sex. At the time of availability of our data, sex education was compulsory only in council-run schools, but our result suggests that making sex education compulsory in all primary and/or secondary schools may reduce the inclination to have sex with prostitute later in life.