Vol. 23 No. 2 (2015)
Articles

Mis/representation & Silence: Gendered Sex Work Discourse in the London Free Press

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  • Nathan Dawthorne
Nathan Dawthorne
Western University
Biographie
DOI : https://doi.org/10.15173/nexus.v23i2.937

Publié-e 2015-10-02

Mots-clés

  • Canadian media,
  • discourse analysis,
  • sex work,
  • heteronormativity,
  • gendered representation,
  • London Ontario
    • ...Plus
    Moins

Résumé

In December 2014, despite the Supreme Court of Canada finding Canada's prostitution laws unconstitutional, the Conservative government passed a bill criminalizing the buying of sex and the advertisement of sex for sale. Sex work has a long history as a hot-button topic, and it continues to remain newsworthy throughout the country. This public discussion in some contexts has privileged certain lobbyists and so-called advocates, disregarding or distorting the voices of sex workers themselves. This territory is starkly heteronormative, reinforcing gendered stereotypes and naturalizing certain types of heterosexual behaviour while ignoring a spectrum of other realities. By analysizing depictions of sex work published for 2013 in the London Free Press, a politically centre-right newspaper printed in a midsized Canadian city, this paper provides analysis of articles about sex work in the local-regional context of London, Ontario (Canada). Exposing a Foucauldian rarefaction of discourse, the analysis works to unveil ideological underpinnings, fleshing out a distorted gendered discourse. 

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Edited Manuscript (English)

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