News Media Power and Public Policy: The Mediatized Construction of Women Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation
PDF (English)
PDF (PT) (Português (Brasil))

Mots-clés

Gender
Trafficking in women
Prostitution
Portugal
Press

Comment citer

Simões, R. B. de. (2018). News Media Power and Public Policy: The Mediatized Construction of Women Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation. Brazilian Journalism Research, 14(1), 130–151. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v14n1.2018.1039

Résumé

Like other areas of violence against women, sex trafficking has become in the last decade increasingly politicized in Portuguese society, with the news media attaching important visibility to it, both for public awareness purposes and government reaction. This happened after the dismantling of a chain of striptease clubs, suspected of hosting trafficking activities. Known as the “Passerelle case”, this event attracted great media attention and brought to the public sphere the problem of trafficking in women for sexual purposes. This article looks at the Portuguese press to understand in what ways the news coverage of the case paved the way for the social and political acknowledgment of this issue, and to what extent it favored an understanding capable of making a real difference in the lives of women. It argues that, despite the news media’s undeniable involvement in sociopolitical changes claimed by feminism, its emancipatory potential remained unexplored.

Tal como outras áreas da violência contra as mulheres, o tráfico para exploração sexual tornou-se na última década crescentemente politizado na sociedade portuguesa, com os media de informação a concederem a esta prática uma importante visibilidade, tanto no domínio da conscientização pública como no plano da reação governamental. Isso aconteceu após o desmantelamento de uma cadeia de clubes de striptease, suspeita de atividades de tráfico. Conhecido como o “caso Passerelle”, este acontecimento atraiu elevada atenção mediática e fez aflorar no espaço público o tráfico para fins sexuais. Este artigo analisa a imprensa portuguesa para compreender de que forma a cobertura noticiosa do caso abriu caminho para o reconhecimento social e político deste problema e em que medida favoreceu uma compreensão capaz de fazer diferença na vida das mulheres. Defende-se que, apesar do inegável envolvimento dos meios de comunicação nas mudanças sociopolíticas reivindicadas pelo feminismo, o seu potencial emancipatório permaneceu inexplorado.

Como otras áreas de la violencia contra las mujeres, el tráfico con fines de explotación sexual se ha convertido en la última década en un tema crecientemente politizado en la sociedad portuguesa, con una importante visibilidad en los medios para la concienciación pública y reacción del gobierno. Esto sucedió después del desmantelamiento de una cadena de clubes de striptease, sospecha de actividades de tráfico. Conocido como el “caso Passerelle”, este acontecimiento atrajo elevada atención mediática y aportó el problema a la esfera pública. En este artículo se analiza la prensa portuguesa para entender de qué manera la cobertura noticiosa del caso abrió camino para el reconocimiento social y político de la cuestión y en qué medida favoreció una comprensión capaz de marcar una diferencia real en las vidas de las mujeres. Se sostiene que, a pesar de la innegable participación de los medios en los cambios sociopolíticos reivindicados por el feminismo, su potencial de emancipación permaneció por explorar.
https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v14n1.2018.1039
PDF (English)
PDF (PT) (Português (Brasil))

Références

Agustín, L. (2005). Migrants in the Mistress’s House: Other Voices in the “Trafficking” Debate. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 12 (1), pp. 96-117.

APA (2014). Report of the task force on trafficking of women and girls 2014. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Barnett, B. (2016). Dividing women: the framing of trafficking for sexual exploitation in magazines. Feminist Media Studies, 16 (1), pp. 205-222.

Barry, K. (1996). The Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: New York University Press.

Berman, J. (2003). (Un)Popular Strangers and Crises (Un)Bounded: Discourses of Sex-Trafficking, the European Political Community and the Panicked State of the Modern State. European Journal of International Relations, 9 (1), pp. 37-86.

Bindel, J. (206). Press for change: A guide for journalists reporting on the prostitution and trafficking of Women 2006. Retrieved from action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/PRESSPACKgeneric12-06.pdf.

Calhoun, C. (ed.) (1996). Habermas and the Public Sphere, 4.ª ed. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chibnall, S. (1977). Law and Order News: An Analysis of Crime Reporting in the British Press. London: Tavistock.

Cohen, S. (2002). Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 3.ª ed. London, New York: Routledge.

Cunha, I. F. (2003). Imagens da Imigração em Portugal. Media & Jornalismo, 2, pp. 71-87.

Ditmore, M., Levy, A., and Willman, A. (ed.) (2010). Sex work matters. London: Zed Books.

Doezema, J. (2000). Loose women or lost women? The re-emergence of the myth of white slavery in contemporary discourses of trafficking in women. Gender Issues, 18 (1), pp. 23-50.

Duarte, M. (2012). Prostitution and Trafficking in Portugal: Legislation, Policy, and Claims. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 9 (3), pp. 258-268.

Entman, R. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43 (4), pp. 51-58.

Ericson, R., Baranek, P. M., and Chan, J. B. L. (1989). Negotiating Control: a Study of News Sources. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press.

Ericson, R., Baranek, P. M., and Chan, J. B. L. (1991). Representing Order: Crime, Law, and Justice in the News Media. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London, New York, Sydney, Auckland: Arnold.

Gulati, G. (2011). News Frames and Story Triggers in the Media’s Coverage of Human Trafficking. Human Rights Review, 12 (3), pp. 363–379.

Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., and Roberts, B. (1978). Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order. London: The MacMillan Press.

Iguartua Perosanz, J. J. (2006). Métodos Cuantitativos de Investigación en Comunicación. Barcelona: Bosch.

ILO (2014). Profits and poverty: the economics of forced labour. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Jeffreys, S. (2008). Normalising prostitution and trafficking: Language matters. Retrieved from www.labrys.net.br/labrys13/prostitution/sheila.htm.

Johnston, A., Friedman, B., and Shafer, A. (2012). Framing the problem of sex trafficking: Whose problem? What remedy? Feminist Media Studies, 14 (3), pp. 419–436.

Lazar, M. (2008). Language and communication in the public sphere: a perspective from feminist critical discourse analysis. In: R. Wodak, and V. Koller (eds.) Communication in the Public Sphere. Handbooks of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 4 (pp. 89-110). Berlin, New York: Mounton de Gruyter.

Mathieu, L. (2003). The Emergence and Uncertain Outcomes of Prostitutes’ Social Movements. The European Journal of Women’s Studies, 10 (1), pp. 29–50.

Monto, M. (2004). Female Prostitution, Customers, and Violence. Violence Against Women, 10 (2), pp. 160-188.

OTSH (2017). Observatório do Tráfico de Seres Humanos. Relatório de 2016. Ministério da Administração Interna.

Pajnik, M. (2010). Media Framing of Trafficking. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 12 (1), pp. 45-64.

RASI (2016). Relatório Anual de Segurança Interna de 2016. Retrieved from www.parlamento.pt/ActividadeParlamentar/Paginas/DetalheActividadeParlamentar.aspx?BID=104739&ACT_TP=RSI.

Reese, S. (2007). The Framing Project: A Bridging Model for Media Research Revisited. Journal of Communication, 57, pp. 148-154.

Santos, B. S., Gomes, C., Duarte, M., and Baganha, M. I. (2008). Tráfico de mulheres em Portugal para fins de exploração sexual. Lisboa: Comissão para a Cidadania e Igualdade de Género.

Santos, B. S., Gomes, C., and Duarte, M. (2009). Tráfico sexual de mulheres: Representações sobre ilegalidade e vitimação. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, 87, pp. 69-94.

Scheufele, D. (1999). Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of Communication, 49 (1), pp. 103–122.

Silveirinha, M. J., and Peixinho, A. T. (2004). A construção discursiva dos imigrantes na imprensa. Revista Crítica de Ciência Sociais, 69, pp. 117-137.

Simões, R. B., and Peça, M. (2009). Da Estrada para a Passerelle: O tráfico de mulheres para exploração sexual na imprensa. Media & Jornalismo, 15, pp. 83-101.

Sobel, M. (2016). Sex Trafficking in Thai Media: A Content Analysis of Issue Framing. International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 6126–6147.

UNODC (2014). Global report on trafficking in persons 2014. Retrieved from www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/GLOTIP_2014_full_report.pdf

UNODC (2016). Global Trafficking in Persons Report 2016. Retrieved from www.unodc.org/unodc/data-and-analysis/glotip.html.

USDS (2017). Trafficking in Persons Report. Retrieved from www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2017/index.htm.

Van Dijk, T. (1997). Racismo y análisis crítico de los medios. Barcelona: Paidós.

Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). The representation of social actors. In: C. R. Caldas-Coulthard, and M. Coulthard (eds.) Text and practices: Readings in critical discourse analysis (pp. 32-70). London: Routledge.

Weitzer, R. (2007). The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade. Politics & Society, 35 (3), pp. 447-475.

Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.

 

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.