More than 'whore' : a discourse analysis on the media coverage of the murders of sex trade workers in Edmonton, Canada, 2001-2008
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Date
2011
Authors
Larter, Tamara
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Sociology, c2011
Abstract
Twenty women linked with the sex trade in Edmonton, Canada went missing or were
murdered between 2001 and 2008. In this study, I use Foucauldian and feminist theories,
via discourse analysis, to examine the ways that Edmonton’s newspapers (re)present
these murders. My findings show that the newspapers’ discourse deviantises these
women, thereby minimising the tragedy of their disappearances and deaths. This
deviantisation is deployed in three ways; by framing sex trade workers as criminally,
medically, and morally deviant. Criminal deviance places sex trade workers firmly on the
‘wrong’ side of the law, making them undeserving of police protection; medical deviance
implies that only women who are mentally ill in some way would take part in the sex
trade, and, simultaneously, hyperbolises the role of sex workers in the spread of venereal
diseases. Finally, discourses of moral deviance place sex workers on the ‘wrong’ side of
morality and femininity.
iv
Description
ix, 126 leaves ; 29 cm
Keywords
Prostitutes -- Press coverage -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Prostitution -- Press coverage -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Prostitutes -- Crimes against -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Prostitutes -- Violence against -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Victims of crimes -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Murder -- Alberta -- Edmonton , Dissertations, Academic