“Area restriction” is the umbrella term used for this thesis to consider geography-based, individually- assigned orders issued by criminal justice agents to remove and restrict targets from particular city spaces. This research focuses on 13 Canadian cities that use arrest-and-release area restriction strategies to managing street sex work(ers). Despite heavy criticism for their punitive nature, area restrictions have received little academic attention. This project takes an exploratory and descriptive approach to the issue in order to develop a platform for future research. Using qualitative, non-experimental methods it also critically analyzes the implementation, logic and reported impacts of the strategies while drawing implications for how area restrictions relate to citizenship statuses of sex workers by mapping exclusions onto the city. Multiple data sources were included but the most significant and compelling information comes from interviews with police officers and community agency workers. Findings suggest that area restriction strategies contribute to substantial social divides between sex workers and other community members, but also between sex workers and important services, resources and their community. At the same time, the strategy is reported as a “temporary relief” measure that is ineffective at lessening sex trade activity and often leads to displacement and dispersal of sex work(ers). However, collaborative efforts in some cities show promise for achieving goals of ‘helping sex workers off the street.’ Realistic recommendations for area restriction strategies are made that lead to more inclusive approaches that are considerate of needs and concerns of all interest groups linked to the “prostitution problem.”

En marge du débat éthique sur le statut juridique des échanges sexuels tarifés, ce mémoire a pour but d’explorer les présupposés théoriques sous-jacents à la conceptualisation de la prostitution comme mesure de la marchandisation de la personne. Au-delà de la question de la grille de rapport de pouvoir à appliquer pour définir la prostitution, nous proposons de questionner quelques présupposés théoriques sous-jacents à la conceptualisation de la prostitution comme étant une forme de marchandisation de la personne. Dans la mesure où la prostitution est distinguée des autres activités à partir de ce statut symbolique qui lui est accordé, notre recherche consiste à questionner les bases théoriques de cette caractérisation normative. La littérature féministe sur le sujet de la prostitution est cristallisée autour de la question de sa criminalisation et de sa stigmatisation sociale, mais elle ne se réduit pas à un débat polarisé entre abolitionnistes et règlementaristes. Nous allons dans un premier temps tenter de dégager les différentes problématisations du sujet de la prostitution et les perspectives épistémiques sur la recherche et la conceptualisation des échanges sexuels tarifés. Nous allons par la suite dégager les paradigmes normatifs qui constituent historiquement la prostitution comme la mesure de l’objectification des femmes. Enfin, nous restreindrons notre analyse à la définition de Pateman de la prostitution dans The Sexual Contract. L’objectif sera de déterminer si la conceptualisation du contrat de prostitution en tant que symbole de la marchandisation de la personne induit des limites dans la compréhension des rapports de pouvoir qui lui sont sous-jacents. Plus précisément, nous étudierons les présupposées normatifs au fondement de la distinction entre le contrat de prostitution et les autres formes contractuelles d’assujettissement. / This paper aims to explore the normative assumptions underlying the conceptualization of prostitution as a measure of the commodification of the person. I propose to question some of the theoretical assumptions underlying the conceptualization of prostitution as a form of commodification of the person. Insofar as prostitution is distinguished from other activities on the basis of this symbolic status, my research consists in questioning the theoretical bases of this normative characterization. Feminist literature on the subject of prostitution focuses on the issue of the criminalization of prostitution and its social stigmatization, but it is not reduced to a polarized debate between abolitionists and regulationists. I will first identify how the subject of prostitution has been problematized from different theoretical frameworks and present epistemic perspectives on the conceptualization of the problem of prostitution. I will then identify and analyze the normative paradigms that historically constitute prostitution as the measure of women objectification. Finally, I will focus on Carole Pateman’s definition of prostitution in The Sexual Contract. My aim is to identify in which extent the conceptualization of the prostitution contract as the symbol of body commodification is relevant to understand the power dynamics underlying this type of agreement. More specifically, I will study the normative assumptions underlying the distinction between the prostitution contract and other contractual forms of subjection.

“What is certain is that the question of […] re-making a landscape of prostitution in the city […] needs to be viewed as part of a changing, global discourse on the nature of contemporary cities” (Aalbers & Sabat 2012, p. 114).Prostitution – associated with well-known Red-Light Districts – has for a long time been seen as “a significant urban activity that relates to other economic and social functions of the city [and contributes] […] to the cognitive image of a city held by both residents and non-residents, even those who have never frequented them” (Ashworth, White & Winchester 1988, p. 201). It is therefore no surprise that within the neoliberal framework of inter-city competition, these once notorious districts, commonly associated with crime and violence, ascended into spaces of entertainment and consumption, neatly aligning with entrepreneurial city branding strategies. The Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s famous mile of sin, located within the district of St. Pauli is no exception to this rule. As a place traditionally located outside Hamburg’s social and physical city limits, it is nowadays frequented by thousands of tourists and party seekers, drawn in by the area’s myths and shady reputation (Khan 2012). Actively fostering the (economic) attractiveness of the so-called Kiez has long been part of Hamburg’s city politics and was reinforced with the creation of the Hamburg Brand Marketing Strategy in 2002, where the Entertainment Mile Reeperbahn alongside Hamburg’s Pulsating Scenes became two of the key success modules in branding the city. The repercussion this has had not only for the district and its inhabitants but specifically for the red-light industry has largely been understudied.This Master’s Thesis therefore, aims at studying the general effects of city branding, such as displacement and conflict over spatial uses in the face of Over-Tourism and re-development strategies. Looking at the specific case of the Reeperbahn, it closes the gap of the somewhat understudied effects of gentrification on St. Pauli’s unique culture. By interviewing different local stakeholders, conducting a broad literature review as well as undertaking field work, the Hamburg-St.-Pauli-Brand-Dialectic will be analyzed subsequently, showing, how the Hamburg Brand and the city as a whole have profited from St. Pauli’s reputation and what consequences this has had in turn for the district.

Background. Despite the prevalence of sex work and strip clubs across Canadian urban geographies, few studies explore the occupational health and safety outcomes related to indoor male sex work, let alone male stripping whereby men dance for men. Moreover, the sexual service negotiation process in the sex work industry remains to be explored. In knowing that sexual practices with high HIV/STI rates occur in strip clubs (e.g., condomless oral, vaginal, and anal sex), as well as widespread psychoactive substance use among strippers, the purpose of this study was to explore the cultural features of male strippers’ work that impact their health and safety outcomes. Methodology. For this study, we recruited 14 male strippers working with male clients in a Canadian city. Critical ethnography was our espoused methodology. Through field observations, informal conversations, questionnaires, and semi-structured qualitative interviews, we explored the process of sexual transactions between strippers and clients. We used a postmodern angle to interpret our findings through the works of Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault. Findings. The male strip club is a social matrix produced by the intersection of motivational forces: the motivation to gain money, pleasure, or intimacy, and the motivation to abide by socio-cultural and legal norms. It is upon a matrix of financial necessity and socio-cultural and legal constraints that sex work transactions unfold in the club. Moreover, the club’s health and safety conditions and strippers’ transaction outcomes result from intersecting motivations. Finally, sexual service negotiation is a process of configuring motivational forces between social agents. The motivation for financial gain revealed itself to be the strongest and most consistent force; the focus on capital gain generated asymmetrical connections between strippers, clients, and business entrepreneurs, resulting in specific health and safety outcomes. Conclusion. The Canadian legal and political context surrounding male sex work negatively impacts male strippers’ occupational health and safety conditions by disabling safe connections with clients. Further, the emphasis on money-making activities encourages strippers to value financial gain over their physical and mental integrity. In short, the male strip club work environment is configured in a manner whereby capital gain is prioritized and strippers’ health and safety is undermined.

This diploma thesis, called "Life's Career of Female Sex Workers - Clients of Organisation Bliss without Risk", concentrates on the topic of prostitution and on the particular period of Bliss without Risk clients' life. The theoretic part includes an explanation of terms of the prostitution scene as well as it mentions and considers new words of this branch such as a sex work or a sex worker. The diploma work tackles the problem of what is very specific for the difficulties of the prostitution branch (heath, social, law or criminal difficulties). It mostly concentrates on the problematic of on sex workers committed violence. The coping strategies being used by women in sex business are also described. The practical part includes the phone research based on information collected from the Bliss without Risk's ex-clients. The main goal of the research was to find out how the ex-clients are keeping and what was the reason they stopped using it's services (was it their dissatisfaction over provided services or did they just left the sex business at all etc.). It gives the basic view at the way of the ex-clients' living as well as at their personal, family and work situation. It also tries to summarise their feeling about the time period they have spent by working in sex business and thereof, if...

This diploma thesis deals with the relations created between social workers and women, providing paid sexual services, in the area of street work environment. The thesis shows us the process of creation of these relations on the basis of the specific position of its actors, such as the stigmatized sex workers and "the wise" ones in the area of social work. However, these positions are not fixed. Social workers, as well as sex workers transform and redefine them, by using their own ways of understanding to categories such as trust, authority and process of self definition. The relations between the actors are mainly created on the basis of the topic of health that enters this environment through the harm reduction approach. This approach is also responsible for bringing an attention to actual health of sex workers but moreover an attention towards group of these women as such. Nevertheless, in the process of actual field research, were these categories shown as to be part of a larger picture of topic like motherhood and partnership. The last chapter of this thesis discusses the approach towards these topics during the contact with social workers. Keywords sex work, non-governmental organization, harm reduction approach, field social workers, stigma, health, biopower, motherhood

By examining Cambodia as a case study, this thesis is exploring the resonances and dissonances between “Western” discourse reflected in US policies and NGOs and women’s experiences of sex work and trafficking. The massive attention to human trafficking driven by the US “War on trafficking” has undoubtedly had tremendous consequences on women’s lives in Cambodia, as the US still exerts a very prominent influence on the country especially through development aid. Examining the discourse upheld by US policies and NGOs in relation to that particular issue and comparing it to Cambodian women’s lived experiences allows us to reflect on the possible power relations that still subsist in the representations of sex trafficking. Taking a post-colonial perspective, this study uncovers the problematic “Othering” imbued in US discourse, creating a patronizing attitude towards “non- Western” women onto whom the victim status is projected, therefore reproducing colonial tropes. The result is that women’s voices and their multilayered experiences are silenced and remain largely unexplored. When listening to the women and those working close to them we learn that sex, money, desire, love, kinship, and Khmer norms all come together to influence women’s decisions to migrate and to enter the sex industry. In Cambodia, there is a complex interplay between structural factors, social obligations and personal desires which is crucial to understand sex work and trafficking. In other contexts, this interplay of factors might take different forms but structural conditions must always be examined and labor migration and participation must be linked to the context-specific economic, political and ideological landscape in which women act.

Under den rådande covid-19-pandemin har polisen i Malmö fått information från hotell i Malmö som uppmärksammat en förändring i den kriminella klientelen, med specifikt fokus på prostitution och narkotikahandel. Denna rapport ämnar därför att, genom en kvalitativ ansats, undersöka hotellanställdas upplevelser av förekomsten av dessa brottstyper på olika hotell samt att se om det skett någon förändring i förekomsten under covid-19-pandemin. Genom att intervjua personal på olika hotell i Malmö och Lund var det möjligt att undersöka upplevelser av förekomsten samt den potentiella förändring som uppmärksammats. Upplevelserna av förekomsten av prostitution och narkotikahandel verkar variera mellan de två städerna där hotellen i Lund menade att brottstyperna är sällsynta, medan hotellet i Malmö upplevt mer frekventa händelser. Samtliga menar även att det varit få förändringar i förekomsten av dessa brottstyper sedan början av pandemin fram tills idag och de förändringar som har skett har varit minskningar. Slutsatserna är att brottstyperna inte är vanligt förekommande på de hotell som tillfrågats och att brottstyperna varit relativt stabila och i vissa fall minskat under covid-19-pandemin. / During the current covid-19 pandemic the Police authority in Malmö has received information from local hotels that a more prominent criminal clientele has been observed, a criminal clientele involved in drug trade and prositution. Therefore, the aim of this qualitative report is to gather further information from the employees of hotels about their perceived picture of this more prominent criminality. In addition to this, the report aims to compare how the employees perceive the current frequency of crimes, compared to before the pandemic severely diminished the number of guests staying at the hotel. Interviews were conducted with employees at hotels in Malmö and Lund to study both questions to give a better understanding of the framework of the problem. The results show that the perceived frequency of drug trade and prostitution varies between the two cities. The three hotels from Lund describe the two crime types as a rare occurrence. Malmö on the other hand, where only one hotel participated, had experienced a larger frequency of both of the studied crime types. All the hotels from both cities are however unanimous in that they don’t see a big difference between pre-pandemic times and spring of 2021 when this report was conducted. If anything, the changes they have seen has been that the numbers are dropping.

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The Swedish Sex Purchase Act was unique, when introduced in 1999. While it was legal to demand and collect payment for sexual services it became a crime to respond to such demands or offer payment. It is now part of Sweden’s foreign policy to ‘export’ this law, using gender equality arguments. Several countries have since followed. The law is often portrayed as a triumph of feminism and women’s political struggles. The law is gender neutral however and applies equally to e.g. MSM sex trade (Men who have Sex with Men), a phenomenon that the normal gender equality arguments do not capture. ‘Homosexual prostitution’ was initially argued in the legislative proceedings, to be so different from heterosexual prostitution, that the scientific investigator raised concerns if one-sided criminalisation was considered by legislators. Yet, this is what happened. This study traces exactly how this came to be, analysing legislative documents and debates, focusing on heteronormative reasonings. In the final round of legislation the question had entirely disappeared. MSM sex trade or culture was not even mentioned and can be seen as heteronormative collateral damage.