The literature on male and female prostitution includes research from such diverse areas as law, medicine, psychology, sociology, and women's studies. However, one of the major efforts throughout this interdisciplinary area of study has been to describe the psychosocial characteristics of prostitutes. The assumption underlying these efforts is that such descriptions will lead to a better understanding of the general phenomenon of prostitution. The present review suggests that conclusions based on the currently available literature are limited by major methodological and conceptual problems such as: a) the failure to operationalize or to agree on the criteria for defining subtypes of prostitutes; b) faulty subject selection methods; c) the absence of appropriate comparison groups; and, d) an almost complete separation of research and theory according to the sex of the prostitutes studied. Nevertheless, there appears to be a number of variables that differentiate between prostitutes and nonprostitutes. Each of these factors is discussed and some suggestions for future research are outlined.
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