Attitudes Toward Sex Work Measure

Description

The Attitudes Toward Sex Work Measure (Puffer, Hodson, & Prusaczyk, 2024) was developed to assess attitudes toward cisgender women’s participation in various forms of sex work, including modern manifestations such as webcamming and sugar relationships. The measure evaluates attitudes toward four domains: webcamming, sugar relationships, prostitution, and pornography. To ensure participants were informed, they first read descriptions of each domain before answering questions related to their perceptions. The measure evaluates two main factors—agency and harm—in relation to each domain. A sample of U.S. residents was recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, and the scale’s reliability and factor structure were reported.

Author

• Puffer, Hanna ORCID
• Hodson, Gordon
• Prusaczyk, Elvira

Purpose

The purpose of this measure is to assess attitudes toward cisgender women’s participation in sex work, specifically focusing on whether individuals perceive such participation as empowering (i.e., providing agency) or harmful. It covers various domains of sex work and explores the extent to which respondents view these activities as exploitative, harmful, or empowering for women.

Construct

The measure assesses two main constructs:

• Agency: The extent to which participation in sex work is viewed as empowering or giving women confidence and independence.
• Harm: The extent to which participation in sex work is viewed as exploitative or harmful to women.

Instrument Type

Inventory/Questionnaire

Items of the “Attitudes Toward Sex Work Measure”

• Number of Items: 24 (6 items for each of the 4 domains)
• Rating Scale: 7-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 7 = extremely)
• Format: Electronic

Reliability and Validity

Internal Consistency

• Agency Factor:
  • Webcamming (α = 0.90)
  • Pornography (α = 0.89)
  • Prostitution (α = 0.89)
  • Sugar relationships (α = 0.78)
• Harm Factor:
  • Webcamming (α = 0.86)
  • Pornography (α = 0.89)
  • Prostitution (α = 0.87)
  • Sugar relationships (α = 0.85)

Validity

No validity indicators are provided for this measure.

Factor Analysis

An exploratory factor analysis revealed two distinct factors for each domain—agency and harm—which supported the structure of the measure.

Test Methodology

The measure was tested for internal consistency, factor analysis, and reliability using exploratory factor analysis to assess the validity of the domains.

Items of “Attitudes Toward Sex Work Measure”

The items assess participants’ opinions on women’s participation in the four domains of sex work, focusing on the degree to which participation is seen as exploiting, empowering, benefiting, or putting women in danger.

Reference

Puffer, H., Hodson, G., & Prusaczyk, E. (2024). Attitudes toward cisgender women’s participation in sex work: Opportunity for agency or harmful exchange? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(3), 1169–1185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02797-y