Sexköpslagen 2.0 - en kritisk diskursanalys av debatten om en utvidgad sexköpslagstiftning
Abstract
The main aim of this study is to examine the political debate in Sweden around a potentional
criminalization of buying sex abroad. A second additional aim is to analyze the debate from an
intersectional feminist gender perspective, by bringing attention to ideas about gender, ethnicity and
power expressed in the empirical material.
The questions at issue are:
What are the arguments for and against the potentional criminalization of buying sex abroad and
which central discursive battles can be discerned throughout the debate?
What impact do ideas about gender and power have on the construction of a general advocate
discourse versus a general antagonist discourse?
The methodological point of departure is Critical Discourse Analysis, drawing on the theories of
Norman Fairclough, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The empirical material consists of 27
articles and editorials publicized in Swedish newspapers between January 2011 and November
2014.
The result shows that the polemics manifested in the debate are based on different ideas about
gender, ethnicity and power. A crucial discursive battle stands between human rights and
international law as a superior principle. In this context a general distinction in the debate is the
analytical level on which prostitution and sex purchases is understood and discussed; as a structural
problem or as a matter between two individuals. The debate can also be seen as an example of how
colonization and imperialism still affect traditional feminist issues. In this context ethnicity also
emerges as a powerful dimension in the debate.
Degree
Student essay
View/ Open
Date
2015-01-30Author
Christensen, Nana
Nissén, Mikaela
Keywords
Sex Purchase Act
Prostitution
Political Debate
Sweden
Critical Discourse Analysis
Language
swe