Soccer & Sex : A polyvocal case study of the effects of the FIFA World Cup 2010 on South Africa's sex industry
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2011
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
To answer this research question a polyphonic driven mode of research has been used. This
qualitative method privileged all these competing voices at work and captured a more nuanced
understanding of competing perspectives about the effects of the World Cup for South Africa’s sex
industry. Several methods to gather data have been used; a literature study, participant observation
and in depth interviews. Next to the examination of existing literature, during the fieldwork period
79 newspaper articles have been collected that discuss the sex industry in relation to the World Cup.
The largest share of the empirical data however, has been gathered by means of in-depth interviews
with members of the several groups taken into account in this study about the effects of the World
Cup on the sex industry.
This study has shown that five effects of the World Cup on the sex industry have occurred on two
different levels. Firstly, on the macro level, the World Cup has been used by several NGO’s as a
springboard for the expression of the stances in the debate about decriminalisation, in consequence
the debate about decriminalization of sex work has been cranked up. Both pro- and contra parties
have used the World Cup to raise awareness and gain attention for their opinions. The NGO’s Not for
Sale and the Activist Network against the Exploitation of Child Domestic Workers took a more neutral
stance in this debate and state that NGO’s need to start working together; they should not only look
at the issues they do not agree on, but should focus on things they do agree on. Secondly, on the
macro level the World Cup has also been used to raise awareness to fight human trafficking; the
global event has led to an increase of the number of campaigns to fight human trafficking set up by
NGO’s in Cape Town. Due to these campaigns the issue has been put on the agenda. However, the
campaigns that have been set up overlap each other and have the same character. Furthermore, the
NGO’s have used the hype created by the media to gain more attention for this issue. However, this
hype has been exaggerated and therefore several experts have warned for a negative resource
allocation of the state.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen