Prostitution and sex trafficking: What are the problems represented to be?: A discursive analysis of law and policy in Sweden and Victoria, Australia

The issue of prostitution has engendered much division amongst feminists, frequently resulting in polemical stances in a polarised debate. A similar pattern has more latterly emerged with respect to sex trafficking. An added difficulty is that statistical evidence regarding these issues is scarce and unreliable. Through a new discursive lens of policy analysis developed by Carol Bacchi (the WPR approach) this paper considers and examines the 'demand side' of prostitution, with particular reference to its relationship with sex trafficking. Two policy and legislative approaches are compared, the Swedish model where the client is criminalized and the Victorian model where the sex industry is legalised and regulated.