Helga Hallgrimsdottir

Sporting Girls, Streetwalkers, and Inmates of Houses of Ill Repute: Media Narratives and the Historical Mutability of Prostitution Stigmas

This article examines the mutability of symbolic sanctions— or stigmas—applied to sex industry work by examining newspaper narratives in one medium-sized Canadian city over two time periods: 1870–1910 and 1980–2004. The articles purpose is first to get a sense of what the authors call the ecology of stigmas—their relation to the temporal and spatial contexts in which they are produced—and second to give needed historical context to them and the representational tropes that currently dominate media, policy, and academic discussions about prostitution. This article finds significant continuities and discontinuities between media representations during the two study periods. In particular, prostitution stigmas are constituted out of cross-articulations of narratives around containment, culpability, and contagion across the twentieth century, but the ideational contents and empirical referents of these narratives reflect the intersection of sex industry contexts with historically specific concerns around gender, sexuality, race, and social status. Stigmas of the sex industry, rather than being constant, reveal themselves to be both deeply ecological and accommodating to a range of concerns about female sexuality and normative behavior that are sensitive to historical time.

‘Knowledge is power’: risk and the moral responsibilities of the expectant mother at the turn of the twentieth century

The notion that ‘older’ mothers experience elevated risks during pregnancy and childbirth has proliferated since the mid-twentieth century. In this article, we take the contemporary concern with age as a starting point from which to historicise and contextualise the concept of maternity risk. To this end, we examine maternal hygiene manuals (self-help guidebooks on motherhood and pregnancy) published between 1880 and 1920 in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Our analysis of these manuals indicated that pregnancy during this period was presented as a potentially dangerous affair that required constant surveillance by the self (and others) to ensure favourable pregnancy outcomes. A dominant theme that emerged from the manuals was that the expectant mother was morally responsible for mitigating a range of risk factors, including adequate exercise, sleep, fresh air, as well as for choosing an appropriate father and ensuring his health. At the same time, the manuals indicated that the failure to seek out expert advice and take up responsible practices was linked to adverse consequences for the expectant mother’s health, and her newborn’s health and moral character later in life. We conclude this article by discussing how findings from our historical data can provide an important context for understanding risk discourses around pregnancy as historically specific and culturally contingent, especially with respect to risks associated with maternal advanced age.

Benefits and constraints of intimate partnerships for HIV positive sex workers in Kibera, Kenya.

IntroductionResearch on the intimate partnerships of female sex workers (FSWs) tends to focus on the risks associated with these relationships. This paper takes as its starting point that the situation of FSWs is better understood by including knowledge of the benefits of their intimate partnerships. Specifically, we employ the conceptual framework provided by emergent research examining intimacy as a complex fusion of affective and instrumental dimensions among sex workers. This perspective allows us to frame information about FSWs’ intimate partnerships within a behaviour-structural approach that is helpful for identifying how intimate partnerships can be a source of both benefit as well as increased risk to FSWs.MethodsOur results are based on a mixed-methods study carried out in the summer of 2011 in Kibera, Kenya. We conducted face-to-face interviews (n=30) with a non-probability sample of FSWs stratified by age who self-identified as Human Immune Virus positive (HIV+). We asked about participants’ involvement in current and past intimate partnerships, and whether these relationships had a positive or negative impact on their health and well‒being.ResultsParticipants currently in intimate partnerships had fewer clients and thus lower incomes than those without intimate partnerships. Participants presently with partners were also more likely to receive some financial support from partners, to report lower intimate partner violence, and to narrate higher partner emotional support and greater assistance with medications. These participants were also more likely to have disclosed their sex work and HIV+ statuses to their partners. Intimate partnerships, on the other hand, showed increased risk of economic vulnerability and emotional dependence for FSWs. This became especially problematic for those participants in fragile relationships. Despite these variations, none of the differences between the two groups were statistically significant.ConclusionsIntimacy and transactional relations are bound up with one another and intersect with the structural realities and vulnerabilities; this is the case for sex workers in well-resourced and resourced-constrained countries alike. Rather than treating intimate partnerships as distinct from transactional relationships, FSWs’ relationships should be viewed on a continuum of risk and support.

Family Kinship Patterns and Female Sex Work in the Informal Urban Settlement of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya

A basic ecological and epidemiological question is why some women enter into commercial sex work while other women in the same socio-economic environment never do. To address this question respondent driven sampling principles were adopted to recruit and collect data for 161 female sex workers and 159 same aged women who never engaged in commercial sex in Kibera, a large informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Univariate analysis indicated that basic kinship measures, including number of family members seen during adolescence and at present, not having a male guardian while growing up, and earlier times of ending relationships with both male and female guardians were associated with commercial sex work in Kibera. Multivariate analysis via logistic regression modeling showed that not having a male guardian during childhood, low education attainment and a small number of family members seen at adolescence were all significant predictors of entering sex work. By far the most important predictor of entering sex work was not having any male guardian, e.g., father, uncle, older brother, etc. during childhood. Results are interpreted in light of the historic pattern of sub-Saharan African child fostering and their relevance for young women in Kibera today.

Explaining the Health Gap Experienced by Girls and Women in Canada: A Social Determinants of Health Perspective

In the last few decades there has been a resurgence of interest in the social causes of health inequities among and between individuals and populations. This ‘social determinants’ perspective focuses on the myriad demographic and societal factors that shape health and well-being. Heeding calls for the mainstreaming of two very specific health determinants - sex and gender - we incorporate both into our analysis of the health gap experienced by girls and women in Canada. However, we take an intersectional approach in that we argue that a comprehensive picture of health inequities must, in addition to considering sex and gender, include a context sensitive analysis of all the major dimensions of social stratification. In the case of the current worldwide economic downturn, and the uniquely diverse Canadian population spread over a vast territory, this means thinking carefully about how socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, immigrant status, employment status and geography uniquely shape the health of all Canadians, but especially girls and women. We argue that while a social determinants of health perspective is important in its own right, it needs to be understood against the backdrop of broader structural processes that shape Canadian health policy and practice. By doing so we can observe how the social safety net of all Canadians has been eroding, especially for those occupying vulnerable social locations.

The knights of labour and the failure of the arbitration platform, 1886-1887 : Ideology, hegemony, and contextually generated opportunities for frame success

This article examines the reasons why the Knights of Labour, a labor movement that enjoyed enormous popularity and success during the penultimate decade of the 19th century, were unable to construct a resonant cultural frame in support of their platform of arbitration. The theoretical framework employed in this article is constructed by importing two concepts from political process models of social movement action into culturalist accounts, historical environment (or context), and opportunity. This framework allows me to look at how historical environments offer transient openings for the effective construction of counterhegemonic or subversive collective action frames. I argue that opportunity for framing has to do with the intersection between the signification requisites of framing practices, and the systemic features of cultural environments. I find that the nature of this opportunity in the years between 1885 and 1887 helps explain why movement practice within the Knights of Labour diverged so significantly from the practices advocated by its leadership.

Social relationships and social support among street-involved youth

ABSTRACT Recent studies suggest that street-involved youth may have more robust and diverse social networks than previously thought. However, the supports offered by their social relationships have not been studied in detail. We analyzed descriptive quantitative data and open-ended interviews with 130 street-involved youth aged 14–18 in Victoria, Canada, to investigate the perceived roles and supportive functions of their most-valued social relationships. Our results show that most participants were embedded in supportive social relationships. For a substantial minority, these were familial and friendship ties forged prior to street involvement. These off-street relationships were often viewed as reliable and stable long-term sources of social support, including emotional, instrumental and informational support, particularly in times of need. This was the case despite perceived relational difficulties and limited face-to-face contact. Approximately half located themselves primarily within new street-based relationships. In comparison with off-street contacts, street-based social ties provided more consistent, immediate social support, and there was greater diversity in terms of the depth and supportive functions of these relationships. However, street-based relationships were often not perceived as being particularly stable over the long-term. Only a small minority of participants reported having no social contacts to turn to for support. Our results highlight the distinct roles that on- and off-street social relationships play in supporting street-involved youth.

“I Wanted to Feel Like a Man Again”: Hegemonic Masculinity in Relation to the Purchase of Street-Level Sex

This paper examines the narratives of men who purchase sex from street level providers in a mid-sized city in Western Canada. We explore what men’s stories tell us about how masculinity is constructed in relation to street sex work. These men narrated their purchase of sex as attempts to exercise or lay claim to male power, privilege, and authority; at the same time, research reveals how tenuous this arrangement is for men. Study participants drew on conventional heterosexual masculine scripts to rationalize their actions and behaviors. Their stories reveal that their purchase of street-level sex is motivated by a sense of failure to successfully align with classed and gendered norms of hegemonic masculinity in which the purchase of sex was an attempt to “feel like a man again”. In this paper we move beyond the notion that static “types” of men purchase sex, highlighting instead that sex work customers are complex social actors with multifaceted reasons for purchasing sex but that are nonetheless inseparable from socially valorized forms of masculine comportment. We conclude that hegemonic masculinity is not only injurious to some men, but also to the sex workers on whom it is enacted.

Contentious politics, grassroots mobilization and the Icesave dispute: Why Iceland did not “play nicely”

In 2008 Iceland experienced the deepest and fastest economic crisis ever recorded in peacetime, which included the total collapse of its financial sector, as well as significant erosion of its currency. This paper concerns a localized protest movement that occurred in the wake of the 2008 crash in Iceland: the mobilization of protest to a settlement deal, known as the Icesave settlement. We interviewed just over 30 actors involved in the mobilization, including politicians, activists, and academics. Our data show that both sides of the Icesave dispute drew on a set of three interwoven narratives, or framings of the debate, that respectively drew on ideas around natural justice, citizenship, and nationalism. Several key discursive intersections between these narratives and the political and economic landscape in the post-economic crisis not only rendered the Icesave dispute salient and commensurate with the experiences of Icelanders living through the crash, but also gave greater credibility to the no-Icesave campaign. We conclude by arguing that the Icesave dispute provides a unique lens onto central questions concerning democracy and the possibilities of meaningful citizen engagement and participation in an era of increasing globalization and of neo-liberal forms of economic governance. Our findings contribute to this literature by revealing some of the particularities of the Icelandic context that were important in creating the socio-historical moment that led to the success of the anti-Icesave movement.

Fear, Risk, and the Responsible Choice: Risk Narratives and Lowering the Rate of Caesarean Sections in High-income Countries

In Canada, as elsewhere in the world, caesarean sections are the most common surgical procedure performed in hospitals annually. Recent national statistics indicate 28% of infants in Canada are born by c-section while in the United States that number rises to 33%. This is despite World Health Organization recommendations that at a population level only 10–15% of births warrant this form of medical intervention. This trend has become cause for concern in recent decades due to the short and long-term health risks to pregnant women and infants, as well as the financial burden it places on public health care systems. Others warn this trend may result in a collective loss of cultural knowledge of a normal physiological process and, in the process, establish a new “normal” childbirth. Despite a range of interventions to curb c-section rates—enhanced prenatal care and innovation in pregnancy monitoring, change in hospital level policies, procedures and protocols, as well as public education campaigns—they remain stubbornly resistant to stabilization, let alone, reduction in high-income countries. We explore—through a review of the academic and grey literature—the role of cultural and social narratives around risk, and the responsibilization of the pregnant woman and the medical practitioner in creating this kind of resistance to intervention today.