Spitz or Swallow: The Fellatio Factor

As of yet, nobody knows what prompted Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York and married father of three—now infamously known as "Client 9"—to dabble in a high-priced prostitution ring.

It may have been power, deviance, or a more quotidian mid-life crisis that meant he was willing to put both family and political future on the line. But the screaming headlines do beg another question: What drives men to pay for sex in the first place? One titillating theory suggests that it may boil down to blowjobs.

A 2001 study by Martin A. Monto, published in the Journal of Sex Research, indicates that "the desire for fellatio is an important reason clients seek female prostitutes." Monto's study gathered questionnaires from men arrested while trying to hire hookers; according to the pervy perps, fellatio was the most common practice they "had ever experienced" with a prostitute—a whopping 81% had received a blowjob as compared to 55% who had had sex.

Of course, you can list many reasons guys might prefer to get their jollies with a call girl. In fact, a series of studies Monto performed cited the following as common causes:

1) They're attracted to the illicit or risky nature of the encounter.
2) They want to have greater control over their sexual experiences.
3) They have difficulty becoming involved in conventional relationships.
4) They want to avoid the responsibilities or emotional attachments of a conventional relationship.

But in the end he concluded that one of the main reasons clients pursue encounters with prostitutes is that they're interested in sexual practices they don’t have access to, either because they don’t have a steady partner, or she's not willing to go there.