Street prostitution and community safety: a case of contested meanings?

This article considers the issues of ‘street prostitution’ and ‘community safety’ in terms of the discursive construction of each. It argues that in the late-modern age, concepts such as ‘community’ and ‘safety’ are problematic and their meaning cannot be taken for granted. The discussion then probes discursive constructions of ‘the prostitute’ and explores the causes of prostitution, its legal regulation and the apparent resilience of street sex markets to various forms of intervention in different places and at different times. The article concludes by considering prostitute women as members of the community and reflects on what this might mean in terms of community safety strategies.