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Sending a Dear John Letter: Public Information Campaigns and the Movement to “End Demand” for Prostitution in Atlanta, GA

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  • Samantha Majic

    (Department of Political Science, John Jay College—CUNY, 524 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019, USA)

Abstract

This paper examines “Dear John”, a public information campaign that ran from 2006–2008 in Atlanta, GA, to ask what narrative it conveys about commercial sex and those who engage in it, in order to understand the gendered (and other) discursive constructions it produces, reflects, and complicates about these activities and subjects. Drawing from both policy and sex work/trafficking scholarship, this paper argues that Dear John used symbolic images and direct and consequential text to convey a “male demand” narrative, which holds that men’s demand for sexual services harms girls and young women and will not be tolerated. Yet, in so doing, Dear John also reinforced particularly gendered characterizations of individuals who trade sex, while de-emphasizing other factors that increase young peoples’ vulnerabilities to and within sex work. The paper concludes by discussing Dear John’s outcomes and significance for scholars concerned with sex work, policy, and social change.

Suggested Citation

  • Samantha Majic, 2017. "Sending a Dear John Letter: Public Information Campaigns and the Movement to “End Demand” for Prostitution in Atlanta, GA," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-22, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:4:p:138-:d:118345
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matheson, Catherine M. & Finkel, Rebecca, 2013. "Sex trafficking and the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games: Perceptions and preventative measures," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 613-628.
    2. Mark McBeth & Elizabeth Shanahan & Paul Hathaway & Linda Tigert & Lynette Sampson, 2010. "Buffalo tales: interest group policy stories in Greater Yellowstone," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 43(4), pages 391-409, December.
    3. Janet A. Weiss & Mary Tschirhart, 1994. "Public information campaigns as policy instruments," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 82-119.
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