IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v41y2004i9p1687-1702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cleansing the Metropolis: Sex Work and the Politics of Zero Tolerance

Author

Listed:
  • Phil Hubbard

    (Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK, P.J.Hubbard@lboro.ac.uk)

Abstract

Although red-light districts have long been characteristic features of Western cities, these spaces are periodically subject to forms of moral cleansing and purification enacted by the state and law. Focusing on central Paris and the West End of London, this paper describes recent 'Zero Tolerance' policies designed to displace sex work from such spaces. Exploring the motives for such actions, the paper argues that policy-makers are seeking to demonstrate their ability to assert moral order by reclaiming red-light districts from sex workers. Simultaneously, it is suggested that this process of 'purification' is intended to maximise the potential for capital accumulation in city centres via the promotion of family-oriented gentrification. The paper concludes by thinking through the implications of this, posing the question: is it right that sex workers are being excluded from our city centres?

Suggested Citation

  • Phil Hubbard, 2004. "Cleansing the Metropolis: Sex Work and the Politics of Zero Tolerance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(9), pages 1687-1702, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:41:y:2004:i:9:p:1687-1702
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098042000243101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098042000243101
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098042000243101?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Flusty, 2001. "The Banality of Interdiction: Surveillance, Control and the Displacement of Diversity," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 658-664, September.
    2. Andy Merrifield, 2000. "The Dialectics of Dystopia: Disorder and Zero Tolerance in The City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 473-489, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Phil Hubbard, 2012. "Afterword: exiting Amsterdam's red light district," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1-2), pages 195-201, April.
    2. Gwen Van Eijk, 2010. "Exclusionary Policies are Not Just about the ‘Neoliberal City’: A Critique of Theories of Urban Revanchism and the Case of Rotterdam," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 820-834, December.
    3. Susan G. Blickstein, 2010. "Automobility and the Politics of Bicycling in New York City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 886-905, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mike Raco, 2003. "Remaking Place and Securitising Space: Urban Regeneration and the Strategies, Tactics and Practices of Policing in the UK," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(9), pages 1869-1887, August.
    2. Junxi Qian, 2015. "No right to the street: Motorcycle taxis, discourse production and the regulation of unruly mobility," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(15), pages 2922-2947, November.
    3. Pablo Mendez, 2018. "Encounters with difference in the subdivided house: The case of secondary suites in Vancouver," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(6), pages 1274-1289, May.
    4. Gordon MacLeod, 2011. "Urban Politics Reconsidered," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(12), pages 2629-2660, September.
    5. Rob Imrie, 2001. "Barriered and Bounded Places and the Spatialities of Disability," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 231-237, February.
    6. Craig Young & Martina Diep & Stephanie Drabble, 2006. "Living with Difference? The 'Cosmopolitan City' and Urban Reimaging in Manchester, UK," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1687-1714, September.
    7. Federico Caprotti, 2019. "Spaces of visibility in the smart city: Flagship urban spaces and the smart urban imaginary," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(12), pages 2465-2479, September.
    8. Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, 2004. "Settling in cyber city?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 391-402, December.
    9. Gordon MacLeod & Mike Raco & Kevin Ward, 2003. "Negotiating the Contemporary City: Introduction," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(9), pages 1655-1671, August.
    10. Christopher J. Moss & Kate Moss, 2019. "Out of Sight: Social Control and the Regulation of Public Space in Manchester," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-11, May.
    11. Loretta Lees, 2008. "Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2449-2470, November.
    12. Alec Brownlow, 2009. "Keeping up Appearances: Profiting from Patriarchy in the Nation's `Safest City'," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(8), pages 1680-1701, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:41:y:2004:i:9:p:1687-1702. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.