Locals’ Social Construction of Prostitution and Prostitutes

The aim of the article is to describe the development of a classification system of “prostitution” and “prostitutes” by residents in a street prostitution area in Paris, and to analyze those social constructions as results of cohabit and production of moral judgments. Prostitution is considered as a series of categories : a) prostitution versus “ordinary people” ; b) “good” prostitution versus “bad” ; c) the “good” victim versus the “guilty” woman. This approach fosters attitudes that separate “us” from “them,” and “good” from “bad” sex, and allows one group of people to distance themselves from the unacceptable activities of another.