Digital Commons Network^™

Framing Sex Work Activism: A Sociological View, Nancy Kannampuzha

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This presentation is based on a book project providing an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of prostitution. Nancy Kannampuzha will review the sociological literature at the intersection of social movements and prostitution. She will report on ethnographic and interview data to reveal the most commonly used rhetorical frames pro- and anti-sex work activists use when recruiting and retaining members. She will describe the assumptions and taken-for-granted moral and ethical aspects of these claims. The literature suggests that pro- and anti-sex work activists draw upon strikingly similar notions of body ownership and empowerment.