“I’m Ducking and Dodging Police for My Life”: Necropolitics in Street-Based Sex Economies

• In Event: Roundtable: Police Practice on the Streets

Abstract

Necropolitics, as conceptualized by Achille Mbembe, offers a lens to understand the ways in which power operates through the regulation and governance of life and death. In the context of street-based sex work, this framework offers new conceptualizations of sex worker experiences that intersect dynamics of stigmatization, social and civil death, and state violence that shape the everyday realities for those who sell sex. Drawing from in-depth interviews with over 100 substance-using women who engaged in street-based sex work, this paper explores the ways in which state institutions, law enforcement practices, and cultural norms intersect to discipline and govern the life and death of sex workers. Findings presented support arguments for decriminalization but also emphasize the importance of future policy prioritizing the safety, autonomy, and dignity of individuals involved in sex economies.

Author

• Jada Y. Vaughan, Northeastern University