Putnis, N. and Burr, J. (2020) Evidence or stereotype? Health inequalities and representations of sex workers in health publications in England. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 24 (6). pp. 665-683. ISSN 1363-4593
Abstract
The health of sex workers is considerably influenced by their position in society and by the marginalisation and stigmatisation they face worldwide. They are frequently criminalised and labelled as deviant, disordered or 'vulnerable': stereotypes that simplify and misrepresent their realities. Sex work policies create social and structural barriers, creating dangerous work environments and exacerbating significant health inequalities.
Health organisations and their policies play an important role in highlighting inequalities and guiding health systems in reducing them. In this paper, we use a document analysis design to analyse how and when sex workers are depicted in policies and publications by English national health organisations: National Health Service (NHS) England, Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, alongside the UK's Department of Health.
We find that sex workers are largely absent in these documents and, when present, are depicted not using evidence, but simplistically with moralistic undertones. The dichotomous constructions: vulnerable yet also criminal 'prostitute' reflect wider political and social constructions of sex working women. This not only obscures their realities, but homogenises, blames and stigmatises, ultimately doing the opposite of what these organisations purport to do: it damages their health and wellbeing.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Health. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | health policy; narrative analysis; social inequalities in health |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Feb 2020 14:00 |
Last Modified: | 13 May 2021 10:15 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1363459319833242 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:145495 |