Based on previous literature, the dominant discourse of 'The Prostitute' was established, deeming it a high-risk trade, among other personal characteristics commonly associated with sex workers. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on a widely distributed provincial newspaper, The Province, in order to assess any meaningful discursive shifts in the discourse of 'The Prostitute' between 1993 and 2003.
Notions of risk and discourse were incorporated into prior literature on moral panic theory. With the use of this theory, it was found that this rise in media attention could not be said to be a moral panic, but instead, a moral narrative. The latter term was used to signify the moral dimension of a discourse in which the message is directed toward the victim and pertains largely to a discourse of risk and proper risk management, otherwise implicating the subject their victimization.
It was found that The Province reinforced the dominant discourse of 'The Prostitute' by dissociating the Missing Women from murdered sex workers from other locations. Setting them apart to be acknowledged, emphasized the quasi-victim status given those involved in the sex industry. The murders were incorporated into a moral narrative that served as a warning to sex workers, thus problematizing them as victims. Presented as either illegitimate choice makers or victims of social ills and prostitution itself, the problems identified throughout the coverage of this case pertained mostly to a serial killer, while the solutions offered spoke largely to a need to get women off drugs and out of prostitution. This again reaffirmed the high-risk discourse of prostitution, rather than recognizing them as 'true' victims, and considering realistic and meaningful options that might reduce the particular vulnerability of street sex workers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/26848 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Beer, Sarah |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 151 p. |
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