Constructing the Nation through Managing Sex : Discourses on Nationhood and Commercial Sex in Finland
Keywords:
equality, Finland, gender, nation-building, prostitution, sex workAbstract
This article examines discourses through which the nation is imagined in relation to commercial sex in Finland. It is based on interviews with non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, poli- cymakers, law enforcers, social service workers, and experts on issues of trafficking victims in Finland, who deal with commercial sex, migration, or both. Drawing on the concepts of nation, community of value, sexuality and gender, the article highlights the discursive strategies used to reconcile the exist- ence of commercial sex in Finland with the national value of social equality. As the interviewees identify gender and social equality as the building blocks of the Finnish nation, they attempt to conceptualise the management of commercial sex in terms of those values. This article also examines the positioning of Finnish and non-Finnish women engaged in commercial sex within these discourses. It suggests that by constructing Finland in terms of social equality, interviewees leave little room for issues surrounding Finnish women within the field of commercial sex, while positioning foreign sex workers as the primary targets of intervention and the legislation of commercial sex.
