I'd guess it was way easier then to be one. All you have do to see these people in real life is go to a Latin American city or town square on a Saturday night and watch the old guys with money openly proposition girls who venture into town looking to hang out with kids their age.

But it also happens in America, Japan, China, India, etc. It's just way more visible and in the open and accepted as part of life in some places --i.e. police would not bat an eye.