Attitudes Towards Buyers and Sellers in Prostitution and Gun Transactions
Open Access
Author:
Sray, Benjamin
Area of Honors:
Criminology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Richard B Felson, Thesis Supervisor Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Prostitution Illegal Firearms Punishment Blame
Abstract:
This study examines attitudes towards the buyers and sellers of sex in comparison to attitudes toward buyers and sellers of illegal firearms. Respondents were presented with one of four vignettes and asked to recommend punishment or to indicate their moral judgment of the participants. The manipulated variables were the genders of the buyer and seller as well as the type of crime. The study also examined how the gender of respondents and their self-identification as a feminist affected their judgements. Respondents gave lighter sentences to buyers and sellers of sex, but there was no significant effects caused by the genders of the buyer or seller. Nor were their sentencing decisions influenced by their gender or identification as feminist. Greater moral blame was assigned to sellers than buyers in gun scenarios, but moral blame was assigned more equally in prostitution scenarios. It could be that sellers are generally blamed more than buyers regardless of gender, but that people make an exception in the case of prostitution. The gender of respondents did not have a significant effect on moral judgements. A three-way interaction indicated that feminists were less likely to blame female prostitutes, whereas in other scenarios they acted similarly to non-feminists.
