Reportage About Craigslist Sex Forums in Mainstream Newspapers and LGBTQ and Feminist Magazines

• In Event: Queer Alternative Media as Counterpublics and Safe Spaces

Abstract

This study compares journalistic representations of Craigslist sex forums in mainstream U.S. newspapers and LGBTQ and feminist online magazines. In this critical discourse analysis, I trace the development of reporting about Craigslist and sexual deviance, focusing on the role the press plays in determining what is normalized vs. stigmatized in culture. I identified seven dominant themes present in a sample of 280 U.S. newspaper stories and 130 LGBTQ and feminist magazine articles: Sex Crimes and Sex Work, Law and Regulation, Scandal, Online Dating Culture, Business & Economy, Public Health, and Related Media. Newspapers called on bureaucratic sources to police online sex work, while alternative magazines used first-person stories to snub the seedy world of online hookups. This study interrogates the counter-hegemonic function of the alternative press by drawing on theories of media ideology and vernacular media. Although advocates of self-representation may want us to believe that minority media produce more nuanced stories, this research illustrates the pervasiveness of normalizing judgment about sex. Reporting routines and sourcing practices contribute to the deviance defining paradigm present in both mainstream and alternative Craigslist coverage.

Author

• Chelsea Julian Reynolds, California State University Fullerton