Paying for Sex During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Israeli Men

INTRODUCTION: This qualitative study explored the experiences of men who pay women for sex (MWPWS) during the COVID-19 pandemic, which poses radical and profound challenges to various aspects of people’s intimate, sexual, and financial experiences. METHODS: The study was based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 Israeli MWPWS who regularly visit various prostitution venues. The interviews were conducted between April and July 2020, between the first and the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. RESULTS: The findings focus on four major aspects of the participants’ experiences: the participants’ inability to pay for sex, the difficulties imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to participants’ sex-for-pay experiences, the positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their sex-for-pay experiences, and the insignificance of COVID-19 pandemic to their sex-for-pay experiences. CONCLUSIONS: I conclude that COVID-19 pandemic triggers various sexual, emotional, and gendered experiences for MWPWS. Accordingly, MWPWS may reevaluate their engagement in sex-for-pay, and their experiences of it may be reshaped in light of the pandemic. I discuss the findings’ contribution to sexuality and masculinity studies, and the methodological possibilities that they raise for qualitative scholars studying social phenomena during the COVID-19 pandemic. POLICY IMPLICATIONS: The study highlights the significance of developing ad hoc prostitution policy that supports the individuals involved in the sex industry—both MWPWS and the women who are paid for sex—during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it suggests that prostitution policy should address the diverse experiences of MWPWS, beyond viewing them as merely offenders who should be punished, or re-educated.