Mobilizing Shame and Disgust. Abolitionist Frames in Anti-Sex-Work Movements in Austria

Austria’s prostitution regime has been characterized since the mid-1970ies as a pragmatic regulationist regime. Since the 1980ies feminist organizations have been fighting for the recognition of sex workers rights with moderate success. However, since a couple of years an abolitionist (feminist) movement emerged in the country agitating with the Slogan “Stop the Purchase of Sex!” This internationally well-connected (e.g. with EWL) but nevertheless small movement aims at establishing the “Swedish Model” of punishing clients of sex workers. The discourse of the movement – basically showing that prostitution is violence against women – is characterized by highly emotionalized images, metaphors and frames. Some of these frames blame clients of prostitutes and create a disgusting male ‘Other’, others personalize a violent patriarchal structure through affective ascriptions and again other frames construct female victims. The affective perspective on anti-sex-work mobilization aims at showing that and how an illusion of love versus disgust is created in a heterosexual patriarchal context running the risk of reproducing these contexts. The paper is based on a critical frame analysis of documents (websites) of Austrian (and international) abolitionist organisations.