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Article published In: Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.166–194

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The representation of sex work in the Greek Press

A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis

 | Lancaster University, UK
Published online: 20 August 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.18012.sag
Abstract
The representation of sex work in the media has received little to no attention in the field of linguistics and discourse analysis. Given that news discourse can have a huge impact on public opinions, ideologies and norms, and the setting of political agendas and policies (van Dijk, Teun. 1989. Structures of discourse and structures of power. Annals of the International Communication Association 12(1): 18–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the study adopts a Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis (CACDA) approach (Baker, Paul, Gabrielatos, Costas, KhosraviNik, Majid, Krzyżanowski, Michał, McEnery, Tony & Wodak, Ruth. 2008. A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press. Discourse & Society 19(3): 273–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), seeking to explore whether journalists reproduce or challenge negative stereotypes vis-à-vis sex work. Examining 82 articles published in three Greek newspapers (Kathimerini, TA NEA, Efimerida ton Syntakton) in 2017, this paper considers the lexico-grammatical choices that are typically involved in the representation of sex work and sex workers in the Press. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, the Discourse Historical Approach and corpus linguistics, the analysis links the textual findings (micro-level context) with the discourse practice context (meso-context) as well as the social context in which sex work occurs (macro-context). Findings illustrate that although sex work in Greece has been legalised for about two decades, traces of abolitionist discourses can be found in the Press, building barriers in the emancipatory efforts of sex workers who stand up for having equal civil and labour rights as their fellow citizens.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Representations of sex work in print media
    • 2.2Feminism, legal frameworks and sex work in Greece
  • 3.The corpus
    • 3.1The newspapers
    • 3.2The query terms
  • 4.Terms related to sex work
  • 5.Representations of sex work and sex workers
    • 5.1Collocations of the lemma πορνεία “prostitution”
    • 5.2Representations of sex work(ers) in Kathimerini and Ta Nea
    • 5.3Representations of sex work(ers) in Efimerida ton Syntakton (EFSYN)
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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