Many US affluent, educated women entering high-quality illegal sex market

Washington, May 15 (ANI): A new study by an economics researcher at the University of Arkansas has revealed that many US women, especially educated and the affluent, are choosing to enter the prostitution market. The finding contradicts the earlier assumptions that women enter the sex market only because they are desperate - that they need money to pay bills or buy drugs. However, the research confirmed that these women do not explicitly choose to enter the streetwalking or low-quality segment of the market. "Our model demonstrated that the prostitution market may be pulling educated women - these so-called 'high-opportunity-cost' women - out of the conventional labor market and the marriage market, in many cases," said Jennifer Hafer, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Arkansas. "The findings suggest that these women are not forced into the prostitution market but rather choose to enter it for many of the same reasons that people enter the conventional job market - money, stability, autonomy and even job satisfaction," she said. Under the direction of economics professor Amy Farmer, Hafer examined high- and low-quality markets within the various types of legal and illegal prostitution in Nevada, which includes high-end escorts, call girls, brothel prostitutes, streetwalkers and women who advertise prostitution on the Internet. The model revealed that high-opportunity-cost women - affluent and educated women with strong family backgrounds and access to resources - may be choosing to enter the high-quality illegal prostitution market, via a high-end escort service or through the Internet. These women would not enter the legal prostitution market, according to the model. Women with low-opportunity costs - that is, women with less education and economic opportunities - choose to enter the low-quality legal market - the brothels in the Nevada counties. (ANI)