Media coverage of the prostitution issue

Published on Friday, 20 October 2017 08:19

The Scelles Foundation publishes its “Revue de l’actualité internationale de la prostitution 2016”, a compilation of over 2000 articles which have been collected during the year. It is a unique look back at the prostitution evolution worldwide.

Here are a few themes that the reader will find in this 2016 review: dismantled prostitution networks, male and female young sexual slaves in the United States, in Calais jungle, in Greece or in Kenya, abused prostituted persons, arrested for questioning clients, adopted bills, news items, inquiries in the field, debates…

The press review is a major information tool, at the core of the Observatoire international (CRIDES). Starting from about a hundred French and English-speaking information sites, it highlights the most varied and complex current events. The key word “prostitution” actually leads to many connected themes: procuring, human trade, hyper-sexualized societies, women’s exploited body through pornography, surrogacy or other forms of merchandizing, the role of new technologies in the prostitution system development, pedo-pornography, pedo-criminality…

Thanks to the international dimension of this press review, cross-checking the pieces of information and establishing connections among the different countries are made possible. As a matter of fact, the raised questions and the reports are often the same from one continent to another, but the given reactions (legal, social…) may be different. This work allows to get a global perception and to detect emerging new trends related to the prostitution-related phenomena.

Towards a global analysis of media narratives regarding prostitution

In their Report on Women’s representations in the Media (2008), Michèle Reiser and Brigitte Grésy point out that Media representations  do not describe the world, they prescribe it: they show what is considered as a natural reality. According to the authors, “Women’s representation in media is affected by an exacerbation of obsolete models (…) and by insufficiently highlighted new models…”

On such a splitting topic as prostitution, media tend to perpetuate clichés and to seek sensational stories rather than to raise deeper interrogations and reflections. La “Revue de l’actualité internationale de la prostitution 2016” intends to provide elements to better apprehend the media narratives and to create the conditions of a better understanding of this phenomenon within society.

>>> To read

>>> Read more :

- « Presse et prostitution », dans Exploitation sexuelle. Une menace qui s’étend. 3^e Rapport mondial, Paris, 2014, p. 49-57

- M. Reiser, B. Grésy, L’image des femmes dans les médias, Ministère de la Solidarité et de la Cohésion sociale, 2008.