WC 2010 Wasn’t A Sexapalooza

I’m sure she is just providing directions.

Remember when everyone was concerned that South Africa would experience a significant increase in prostitution during WC 2010? Well, it turns out that didn’t happen.

FIFA and South African officials had feared that up to 40,000 additional sex workers would appear near the World Cup stadia due to the presence of an enormous potential client pool, but a recent survey suggests that this was not the case.

The survey was carried out by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) among 663 sex workers in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and found that there was no increase in demand during the World Cup.

Clearly, the results of the survey are beyond contestation, as they also found that 99% of all sex workers used condoms. I’m not trying to suggest that some prostitutes might be lying, but…I think some prostitutes might be lying on this survey.

From a statistician’s perspective, this is known as “social desirability” where survey respondents give you the answer they think is “acceptable” to society, rather than answering truthfully. Considering the great concerns that officials had over an increase in activity, along with the high rate of HIV/AIDS on the continent, I would not be surprised to learn that some of these women weren’t exactly entirely forthcoming.