bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

One in seven men buy sex from prostitutes, with nearly half going to the mainland, according to the most comprehensive survey yet on SAR sex relations.

 Of the estimated 276,000 men who have visited prostitutes, 45 per cent had no steady partner, while 14.1 per cent were unfaithful. The remainder gave no information.

 Results of the survey of 1,124 men aged between 18 and 60 in July and August last year, were projected on to census data from 1995.

 The survey found 27.3 per cent of those who had sex with prostitutes did not use a condom, said principal investigator Dr Lau Tak-fai.

 'Men know in general that if they practise unsafe sex, the risks of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or Aids is high,' said Dr Lau, director of the Chinese University's Centre for Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Research.

 'But they don't personalise the experience. They still think it won't happen to them.'  The study showed 5.6 per cent of men who had commercial sex had contracted an STD in the six months prior to the study.

 'Some men don't use [condoms] because of personal preference. It is known that some clients prefer to pay more for unprotected sex,' Dr Lau said.

 More than half of sex purchasers - 54.5 per cent - visited prostitutes locally, while 47.6 per cent went to the mainland.

 Mainland figures showed about one-third of prostitutes had sexual diseases, Dr Lau said.

 No official figures were available for the SAR.

 On condom use, Dr Lau said some men who had visited prostitutes would not then use a condom with their partners for fear of being suspected of infidelity.

 Using 1995 data, the projected number of heterosexual and homosexual men practising unsafe sex was about 90,000, Dr Lau said.

 There was equal age distribution of those not practising safe sex, with those aged over 40 slightly more reluctant to use condoms.

 'There's no point saying there's education if the figure remains at a high level,' Dr Lau said.

 Chairman of the university's Department of Community and Family Medicine, Professor Lee Shiu-hung said the study was spurred by official figures. 'We suspected that was just the tip of the iceberg.'  To date, there are 1,192 reported cases of HIV and 390 Aids patients, with the majority of infections from heterosexual intercourse.



One in seven make visits to prostitutes