Selling sex sells: Representations of prostitution and the sex industry in sexualised popular culture as symbolic violence

Abstract

Synopsis The mainstreaming of the sex industry into popular culture is evident in the proliferation of commercial sex premises in urban spaces and the popularity of pimp/ho chic. In this paper we explore representations of prostitution, including what stories are told about prostitution in films and television and how the dynamics of prostitution are presented as a template for intimate relationships. Throughout the paper we contrast this glamourisation with the empirical realities of prostitution that include violence and psychosocial harm. While the sex industry is portrayed as empowering and entertaining in popular culture, its existence as cause and consequence of gender inequality is unchallenged. We suggest that these representations constitute symbolic violence, obscuring the gendered inequality of commercial sex and the physical, sexual and psychological harm experienced by women in prostitution.