Men indulging in prostitution have less empathy for women than men who don't

A new study has revealed that men who buy sex are more likely to report having committed rape and other aggressive sexual acts.

The study was carried out by Neil Malamuth of the UCLA.

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The study of 101 men in the Boston area who buy sex and 101 men who do not indicates that sex buyers' perspectives are similar to those of sexually coercive men.

Malamuth said that their findings indicated that men who bought sex shared certain key characteristics with men who were at risk for committing sexual aggression.

He added that both groups tended to have a preference for impersonal sex, a fear of rejection by women, a history of having committed sexually aggressive acts and a hostile masculine self-identification, and added those who bought sex, on average, had less empathy for women in prostitution and view them as intrinsically different from other women.

Other studies have indicated a lower level of empathy among men has been associated with sexual aggression toward women.

Malamuth said the study confirmed the predictive ability of many of the risk factors for sexual aggression he has studied for the past 35 years.

The study is published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.