Predictors of Public Attitudes Regarding the Impact of “End Demand” Legislation: Findings from an Israeli Survey

Background: The last two decades have seen a wave of legislative reforms in the regulation of the sex industry in many countries around the world. One particularly controversial reform is known as “End Demand” legislation: laws that criminalize clients of sex workers. Methods: This study explores what predicts public attitudes regarding the impact of end demand legislation, based on an online survey, conducted in January 2020, of 2012 Israeli adults, just after such a law passed in Israel in December 2018. We focus on attitudes regarding the impact of end demand legislation, as correlated with attitudes toward women who sell sex (WSS), men who pay for sex (MPS), and policies related to the sex industry and gender. Results: We found that a majority of the Israeli public had not formed an opinion regarding whether the law would achieve its declared goals as well as regarding its impact. Most of those who held an opinion about the law’s impact thought that it would not reduce the selling of sex and that it would negatively impact people involved in the sex industry. We also found greater support of criminalization of WSS among those who supported end demand legislation. Conclusion: The study presents these findings, explores their implications—and specifically the failure of supporters of the law to convince the public of its ability to positively impact WSS -and highlights the public’s troubling tendency to link support for the criminalization of MPS with that of the criminalization of WSS.