Alcohol and drug use in Australian male sex workers: its relationship to the safety outcome of the sex encounter

Abstract

This paper describes the self-reporting patterns of alcohol and drug consumption amongmale sex workers (MSWs) in three Australian cities during commercial sex encounters, and examinesto what extent alcohol and drugs are used and whether this is related to the safe/unsafe outcome of thecommercial sex encounter. One hundred and eighty-six MSWs from Brisbane, Sydney andMelbourne completed a diary following each commercial sex encounter over a two-week period.MSWs reported 2,087 commercial sex encounters during the study period. Alcohol or drugconsumption was reported in 50.5% of the encounters. There were 488 instances of marijuana usereported before or during a commercial sex encounter, 210 instances of volatile inhalants use, 149instances of heroine use and 151 of other drug use, including benzodiasepines, ecstasy, speed andcocaine. These substances were consumed either alone or combined. Marijuana consumption wasassociated with the commercial sex encounter occurring at the MSWs' place of residence andconsumption of alcohol, marijuana and nitrites with the client's place. The results also reveal thatconsumption of drugs and alcohol was statistically related to length of the encounter, and that clientsobtained through escort agencies or brothels were significantly associated with marijuana, other drugconsumption and heroine use. Interestingly, a multivariate analysis indicated that encounters wherethe MSW consumed marijuana or did not consume any substance were less likely to have an unsafeoutcome. The paper argues that it is necessary to identify and target risk groups and behaviours thatare usually not included in broad based health education messages.