Rachel E. Dubrofsky is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of South Florida. She is the author of
Shoshana Amielle Magnet is Associate Professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is the author of
Rachel E. Dubrofsky is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of South Florida. She is the author of
Shoshana Amielle Magnet is Associate Professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is the author of
Toward a Feminist Praxis in Surveillance Studies
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Published:May 2015
Though still not as prevalent as the study and arrest of sex workers, sex industry clients in the Global North are emerging as a category of social deviance to be surveyed, analyzed, and disciplined. This chapter considers one sector of the feminist movement that is actively involved in the surveillance and deviant construction of clients: anti-prostitution advocates. The chapter focuses on the prohibitionist group, Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) to analyze how its empirical reports participate in surveillant logics, reify clients as deviants and legitimate intensified state surveillance and criminalization. The first part situates social science discourse, within the ambit of surveillance. The second part problematizes PRE’s methodology and interpretation, delineating how the client reports are deeply flawed and patently distortive. Finally, the chapter examines how anti-prostitution feminist social science discourse operates as a surveillant practice in alliance with state surveillance and with a carceral mentality.
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