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'Its all supply and demand': Market fatalism and norm construction by prostitution clients in the Netherlands and Belgium

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  • Adriaenssens, Stef

    (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), Belgium)

Abstract

Given the deviant nature of prostitution, expectations and information used to depend on clients personal experiences. This has changed fundamentally during recent decades. The emergence of user-generated websites discussing commercial sexual exchanges has allowed moral economies of prostitution as a distinctly social phenomenon to develop. This contribution reconstructs the social norms of prostitution clients with the help of a qualitative analysis of internet reviews by clients in the Netherlands and Belgium. Clients develop a dominant market fatalist approach to exchanges with sex workers, so that prostitution is constructed as "just happening" paralleling everyday consumption practices. It emulates mainstream exchanges, for example in fixed price norms. It is argued that this market fatalist approach consists of a moral economy concealed behind a veil of amorality. Reconciling these market fatalist expectations with an equally strong demand for authentic and personal experiences with the sex worker is further analysed and discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriaenssens, Stef, 2010. "'Its all supply and demand': Market fatalism and norm construction by prostitution clients in the Netherlands and Belgium," Working Papers 2010/18, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:hub:wpecon:201018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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