A feminist discourse analysis of sex 'work'

The Present research investigates how explanations for sex 'work', and cons tructions of it as a market exchange just like any other, function to reinf orce and perpetuate the current shape of the sex industry in New Zealand. I t also examines how key themes in feminist theories of sex work are used by participants to account for their experiences in the job. The data were fr om semi-structured interviews with 19 people who were working, or who had w orked, in the sex industry. The sample was diverse in terms of gender and s exuality identifications, There was also diversity in the areas of sex work that had been experienced. The analysis takes a feminist discursive psycho logy approach that investigates the contradictions and dilemmas raised by d ifferent constructions of social objects. Insights that emerged fi-om the a nalysis include that the construction of sex work as a service industry rel ies, in part, on the notion of an uncontrollable male sex drive; that the i dea of sex work as an ordinary market exchange both highlights and hides im portant features of the sex industry; and that participants could account f or both the violent and liberatory aspects of sex work that feature in femi nist explanations.