Abstract

This article analyzes the reasons why prostitutes are being criminalized for their choice of work. They have been criminalized through highly coercive ordinances which severely censure their "deviance". These ordinances and the powerful discourses justifying them show the uninterrupted and endless continuum of stigma, persecution, social isolation and/or imprisonment that accompanies the history of women's prostitution, relegating these women at the bottom of society's sexual hierarchy.