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We value your privacy. As few New Zealanders have direct regular contact with prostitutes, the media has a strong role in shaping public discourse in relation to the sex industry. Using Foucauldian inspired poststructuralist analysis, from a critical feminist perspective, this paper investigates the representation of prostitution in the New Zealand print media before and after the passing of the PRA.
Newspaper articles from to were analysed to identify key discursive constructions of the PRA, prostitution, sex workers, and other key players in the New Zealand sex industry. The main representations identified in the data were adult or child street prostitution, those who sell sex were always depicted as women or girls and those who buy sex, as men. Discussions of men who buy sex were noticeably absent, except in coverage of men who had been violent towards sex workers and men who bought sex from children.
Inhouse prostitution was depicted as a more legitimate profession than street prostitution and the street sex worker was portrayed in disparaging ways. We conclude that although New Zealand has decriminalised prostitution, visible sex worker activity on the street continues to be deplored, due to its violation of various codes of traditional femininity and female sexuality.
The media also work to individualise issues related to the sex industry, which require a more social, structural, and economic analysis. Content may be subject to copyright. Media representations of adult and child prostitution in New Zealand. As few New Zealanders have direct regular contact with prostitutes, the media has a strong.
