You want the Syph?

[vansmack]

You gotta pay for it!
 
 Twice as many men paying for sex
 
 The number of men paying women for sex has nearly doubled in a decade, UK research shows.
 Surveys of 11,000 British adults in 1990 and 2000 found the rate increased from one in 20 to nearly one in 10 men.
 
 Rising divorce rates, sex tourism and increasing availability of commercial sex are blamed by the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal.
 
 It warns that the men's lifestyles put them at risk of catching sex diseases, yet few are getting checked in clinics.  
 
 Only a fifth had visited a sexual health clinic and even fewer had been tested for HIV.
 
 The findings come as experts call for a radical rethink of sexual health services to tackle rising rates of sex diseases.
 
 In the UK there has been a resurgence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HIV.
 
 More than 58,000 are now living with HIV in the UK and 104,155 new cases of chlamydia were reported in 2004, latest figures show.
 
 The study authors, from Imperial and University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the National Centre for Social Research, do not believe the rise in commercial sex is the prime cause for this, but they warned it could be a contributing factor.
 
 Risky behaviour
 
 While women who sell sex in the UK have been targeted by campaigns to promote safer sex and uptake of sexual health checks, on the whole men who pay for sex have not, they said.
 
 And their work shows these men often have other risk factors for STIs including higher numbers of partners in general.
 
 More than a third of the men in the study had 10 or more sexual partners during the previous five years.
 
 Meeting new sexual partners while abroad, including in countries with higher rates of STIs than the UK also increased risk.
 
 The men most likely to pay for sex were single, living in London and aged between 25 and 34.
 
 There was no link with ethnicity or social class, however.
 
 Liberal attitudes
 
 Lead author Dr Helen Ward said there were many reasons why more men were paying for sex.
 
 "There has been a more liberal attitude towards commercial sex and increasing commercialisation of sex. Lads magazines are bombarded with images.
 
 "There are more men with money and more women looking for this type of work."
 
  Many people will be surprised by the relatively large numbers of men who are willing to pay for sex. But it's not so surprising in the context of social trends.
 
 She said many men were meeting new partners abroad, on stag nights for example, and the internet and cheaper international travel meant people had more opportunities to buy and sell sex.
 
 "It does not seem to be exceptional for groups of men to go away with each other for the weekend and have commercial sex.
 
 "My concern is that if people are going abroad where there might be less safe sex, they really ought to be thinking about the possible risks.
 
 Stopping STIs
 
 "Men who pay for sex should be the target of health promotion campaigns and screening initiatives," she said.
 
 She said such programmes could be targeted at young male travellers and groups of men going on holiday or stag party trips, but that it might be better to target men in general, starting with school based sex education and mass media campaigns.
 
 Peter Baker, of the Men's Health Forum, agreed it was important to target all young men because those most at risk were also the least likely to use health services.
 
 He added: "Many people will be surprised by the relatively large numbers of men who are willing to pay for sex.
 
 "But it's not so surprising in the context of social trends - women are increasingly sexualised in the media, sex phone lines are routinely advertised in the back of magazines and phone boxes...and divorce and separations are on the rise."
 
 A new report by the NHS Confederation and the Terrence Higgins Trust says the way NHS sexual health services are currently run must be comprehensively overhauled because existing services cannot cope with demand.
 
 It says there should be a shift towards community-based services focusing on both contraception and STIs, including HIV.
 
 Jo Webber of the NHS Confederation said: "A fresh approach is needed."
 
 Story from BBC NEWS:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/4482970.stm

[walkonby]

i just knew these f-ing straight people had a problem.  gay guys will play for free, and germs are just so gross.

[you be betty]

hey...
 
 i actually thought this thread was going to be about me...

[thirsty moore]

This thread makes me pay for it, thus, it does not deliver.

[Jaguar]

The quest continues...
 
 British stag parties test E. European welcome
 
 By Mark Rice-Oxley, Correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor
 Wed Nov 30, 3:00 AM ET
 
 Dusk in Dunakeszi, and it's time to go. We rev up our fleet of ancient East German Trabant cars and do our best to rally them back through the hills to Budapest, though frankly it's a struggle given the tinny little engines and almost nonexistent brakes.
 
 We're on a British stag weekend, or bachelor party, which no longer involves an eve-of-wedding event at the local pub but more outlandish activities such as looping the loop in a Lithuanian propeller plane, bobsleighing in Latvia, or whitewater rafting down treacherous Slovakian rapids.
 
 For Brits, cheap flights and cheaper entertainment make many Eastern European cities - for example, Prague, Czech Republic; Budapest, Hungary; Tallinn, Estonia; and Vilnius, Lithunia - highly appealing venues. Dozens of stag-tour operators have sprung up in the past two years to tap the new market.
 
 But eastern Europeans do not necessarily find the stag parties so appealing. In fact, the outings appear to be producing a new version of the "ugly American."
 
 Our weekend, like that of many other stag groups, is of the harmless, if silly, variety: a decision that we'll all answer to the name Dave, for example, and the fume-filled Trabant rally that may have ruined Hungary's chances of meeting its Kyoto protocol commitments.
 
 But much of the behavior of visiting Brits is far more raucous. And as thousands careen around East European capitals each weekend, locals are starting to grumble about a distinct lack of appreciation for local sensitivities. The impression of the British as a genteel people is rapidly waning. In Prague, for example, locals have complained about being overrun with bawdy Brits drinking cheap lager and scoping out prostitutes. As many as 1,200 stag groups are thought to descend on Prague each year and British visitor numbers to the city jumped more than 50 percent last year. The mayor, Pavel Bem, has already sought to rein in the red-light district and wants visitors to respect local customs. Bars and restaurants have started to refuse large groups of men, according to city hall spokeswoman Jana Kobesova.
 
 In Tallinn, where "staggers" make up a small but awkward proportion of visitors, there are similar concerns. "They cause inconveniences, particularly for the private sector," says Kersti Uus, who works at the tourism authority. "Already, there are several hotels, bars, and clubs where entrance for participants of stag parties is forbidden."
 
 So common is overseas travel becoming for stag parties that the Foreign Office recently published a survey which found that 70 percent of young British people now prefer stag parties with an international dimension - but that almost three-fifths make no effort to read up on their destination's customs and laws.
 
 Tamas Sinoros, our guide one evening, says the stag influx exploded after Hungary joined the EU last year. From two or three groups a weekend, the company he works for now handles up to 15 groups - all of them British.
 
 "Sometimes it can be difficult," says Mr. Sinoros, who is here to smooth over misunderstandings between Brits and locals. Misunderstandings among Brits and other Brits is another matter. "You don't get so many problems between the stag groups and locals, but often the stags end up fighting each other," he says. "And then five minutes later they are all friendly and hugging each other. You don't really know what to do when they're like that."
 
 He says many Hungarians turn a blind eye to the noisy intrusions. Stag parties bring in formidable amounts of currency to a region that really needs it.
 
 As a young guide shuttling around town with stag tour groups, Aniko Kovacs says she has felt slightly uncomfortable at times. "It was strange going to the thermal baths with 30 men," she says, noting that her duties ended at the cashier's desk. "I got a lot of funny looks."

Maybe that's why Paul Gadd prefers Vietnam?

[Frank Gallagher]

Oh we pay for sex....wether it's financially, emotionally or anyotherally....we pay for the damn thing!