You have full access to this open access article. This article explores how individual-level attitudes towards the exchange of sexual services for payment differ between the Nordic countries. The sparse existing research points to gender and general attitudes towards sexual behavior as powerful predictors of attitudes towards the exchange of sex for payment.
However, there are no previous research agendas that attempt to explain variance in such attitudes including all the Nordic countries.
The findings point to considerable variation in attitudes towards the exchange of sex for payment in the Nordic countries. The attitudinal differences align with how the different Nordic governments have approached the issue at hand.
Moreover, the results suggest that gender and attitudes towards non-committal casual sex play a critical role in determining attitudes towards the exchange of sex for payment. The impact of attitudes towards non-committal casual sex on attitudes towards the acceptability of exchanging sex for payment is different for women when compared to men in four of the five countries.
The empirical results provide convincing evidence that women are less likely than men to translate liberal attitudes towards general sexual behavior into lenient attitudes towards the exchange of sex for payment.
