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Controlling the 'Anti Sexual' City: Sexual Citizenship and the Disciplining of Female Street Sex Workers

NCJ Number
228905
Journal
Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 507-525
Author(s)
Teela Sanders
Date Published
November 2009
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article makes a connection between the politics and policies relating to prostitution and antisocial behavior, with the construction of sexual citizenship.
Abstract
This article unites an analysis of the legal and policy changes that govern prostitution in the United Kingdom with the broader theoretical and practical arguments that have been made by those concerned with understanding the implications of the antisocial behavior agenda, the regulation of the night time economy, and the changing nature of regulatory mechanisms. Divided into four sections, the article begins by outlining the arguments and brief evidence of the gendered nature of antisocial behavior. It then describes prostitution policy under New Labor and argues that there is a distinct gendered and sexual dimension to recent legislation and policy approaches to managing prostitution in the United Kingdom. Third, an argument is made that what appears as protective and inclusionary mechanisms for vulnerable women are in practice punitive, controlling mechanisms providing little opportunity for support or change. Lastly, how the boundaries of sexual citizenship are conditional is pointed out. The article concludes with a description of what the author understands as policing the 'anti-sexual' city by demonstrating how antisocial behavior mechanisms are applied to monitor, survey, and police certain sexual behaviors. Notes and references

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