Models on the Move: The Mobilities of Swedish and Dutch Sex Work Policies

Mcmenzie, Laura (2021) Models on the Move: The Mobilities of Swedish and Dutch Sex Work Policies. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

Policies, ideas and models related to sex work move between places. Yet there has been little academic attention paid to such mobilities. This thesis attends to this gap by drawing on and extending a policy mobilities approach – incorporating the concepts of mobilities, mutation, assemblages, learning, educating, showcasing, immobilities and gender – to uncover the processes through which sex work policies become mobile models. It focuses on the example of the Swedish and Dutch models of sex work regulation and their reception in the UK (including England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). Methodologically, it uses a qualitative approach drawing on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews which were undertaken with key stakeholders including, state officials, consultants, academics, activists, and NGOs.
Empirically, the thesis demonstrates that both models have been widely discussed in policy, NGO and academic circles in the UK, with much learning and educating done about both models. The models have been accompanied by a range of ‘study aids’ – including conferences and fact-finding trips – as well as advocates and critics. Despite its flaws, the Swedish model has gained significantly more traction in the UK than its Dutch model ‘rival’. Conversely, while there is some evidence of local-to-local learning between the UK and the Netherlands, the Dutch model has been positioned by many as a lesson in ‘worst practice’, effectively immobilising its movement to the UK.
The thesis has shown that the issue of gender runs behind the two models and their messages, messengers and the mediums through which they are advocated or critiqued. The thesis demonstrates that while a policy mobilities approach is important to the study of policies on the move, it must take seriously the issue of gender.

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