Child Prostitution Reforms, Childhood and Sexuality

Child prostitution literature and law from the late
nineteenth century has theorised power as an
interpersonal force which is exercised by strong
members of society against the weaker members with
law posited as the child s saviour. Whilst this is a
conceptually valid theorisation of power within child
prostitution discourse it is not the only possible
theorisation. The focus on theorising young people as
sexually vulnerable to the exploitation of adults has
had the effect of omitting analysis which questions
the nature of power in contemporary society. This
work challenges the theories of power evidenced in
the child prostitution literature to provide a
Foucauldian analysis of the role of power within the
child prostitution discourse from the late nineteenth
century to the Scottish reforms in 2005. This work
argues that the conceptualisation of power evidenced
in the child prostitution discourse from the late
nineteenth century is based on the inter-related
discourses of childhood, sexuality, child and human
rights which combine at this point in history to
produce the sexually vulnerable victim. This work
will be of interest to those working in the fields of
sociology and law.

Autorentext
Carolynn Gray LLB, LLM, PgCTLHE: Studied Law at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and is currently lecturing in Law at the University of the West of Scotland.

Klappentext
Child prostitution literature and law from the late nineteenth century has theorised power as an interpersonal force which is exercised by strong members of society against the weaker members with law posited as the child's saviour. Whilst this is a conceptually valid theorisation of power within child prostitution discourse it is not the only possible theorisation. The focus on theorising young people as sexually vulnerable to the exploitation of adults has had the effect of omitting analysis which questions the nature of power in contemporary society. This work challenges the theories of power evidenced in the child prostitution literature to provide a Foucauldian analysis of the role of power within the child prostitution discourse from the late nineteenth century to the Scottish reforms in 2005. This work argues that the conceptualisation of power evidenced in the child prostitution discourse from the late nineteenth century is based on the inter-related discourses of childhood, sexuality, child and human rights which combine at this point in history to produce the sexually vulnerable victim. This work will be of interest to those working in the fields of sociology and law.