Never Innocent Victims

Abstract

Over the past decade, street sex workers and their families garnered considerable media attention through extensive coverage of disappeared and murdered women in Western Canada. The research presented here examines whether recent media accounts differ from past coverage given that families and friends of disappeared and unaccounted for women inserted themselves into media discussions and circulated alternative readings of their stories. We found that coverage was dominated by two discourses: Vermin-victim discourse demonstrates the tensions between historically dominant conceptualizations and more recent ideas promulgated by families; and risky lifestyle discourse is related to neo-liberal ideologies about personal choice and responsibility.

The “Sociological Equation”: Intersections Between Street Sex Workers’ Agency and Their Theories about Their Customers

“…Similarly, their resistance to the notion that they bear responsibility for the risks of violence to which their working conditions subject them is a particularly notable exercise of agency, given the widely circulated "high risk lifestyle" discourse that responsibilizes marginalized victims of violence and ill treatment rather than those who perpetrate it. Such responsibilization discourses (Strega et al, 2014), invite street sex workers to understand themselves as agentic rather than passive subjects vis-à-vis the risks of violence. As Sibley noted, while "occupational hazard-awareness is required for any form of employment", in sex work the ability to act on it is dependent on where workers are positioned within the sex industry, and how one is positioned within broader structures of power and domination (Sibley, 2018(Sibley, , p. 1463.…”

“…Such polarization is underscored in the medical and epidemiological sex work literature (especially studies of sex work in the global South) where sex workers, positioned as "vectors" of disease and public health risk, are accorded agency through an intensely responsibilizing lens (Choi & Holroyd, 2007;Strega et al, 2015;Wojcicki & Malala, 2001). When violence is the issue, workers are responsibilized through the "high risk lifestyle" discourse (Strega et al, 2014).…”

Hunter–Prey Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Online Posts of Men Who Buy Sex

“…Via this careful examination of dialogue, the researcher arrives at a summary of these underlying processes, the dominant discourse, which in this case is a depiction of how an online CS community represents itself to the world, to its members and readers. Our focus was on the rules of dialogue (expectations and assumptions) that determined how participants spoke about CS acts, what was acceptable and appropriate to discuss, and even how it should be discussed (Strega et al, 2014).…”

“If You Fall Down, You Get Back Up”: Creating a Space for Testimony and Witnessing by Urban Indigenous Women and Girls

“…This point of view remains part of the popular narrative. Indigenous Peoples often distrust government policies and procedures because they see their purpose and rationale as being based on inaccurate perceptions and stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples, which includes the noble savage among others, that are perpetuated through popular discourse (Henry & Tator, 2009;Larocque, 2010;Strega et al, 2014). There is a clash between the dominant cultural narrative grounded in colonial ideology and the narrative grounded in the experiences and truths of Indigenous Peoples.…”

“…In the media, the public affirmed the importance the Bear Clan Patrol once had in ensuring safety, protection, and community mobilization, and it was re-established to meet growing recognition of community needs (Taylor, 2015). A key part of the cultural memory transmitted through the dominant popular discourse and reported in the media, places blame on Indigenous women and girls when they experience violence and see them as less worthy than non-Indigenous girls (Henry & Tator, 2009;Strega et al, 2014). However, through the living testimony of Indigenous youth, families, and communities, and the actions of groups such as the Bear Clan Patrol, the dominant narrative is beginning to change.…”