Media representations of migrant sex workers from former Soviet Union countries in Turkey

Abstract

This dissertation examines media representations of migrant sex labor of women former Soviet Union countries in Turkey. Treating mass media as an instrument of state hegemony and patriarchy, this study uses a Marxist feminist and historical materialist theoretical framework to examine media representations of migrant sex labor. The methodology applied in the study is conventional content analysis conducted with the help of NVivo 11 software and discourse analysis. In order to examine media representations of migrant sex labor in Turkey, a content analysis of 990 articles in five Turkish newspapers (Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Milliyet, Sabah and Zaman) is conducted for the period of 1992-2014. It is argued that the media as an ideological platform in which state hegemony is being reproduced was the most important factor shaping public opinion about the issue of migrant sex labor in Turkey starting from the 1990s. Discussing media representations of the issue and its key aspects such as supply and demand sides of migrant sex labor, the author examines the role of the media in facilitating exploitation of migrant women’s sexual labor as a problem of both capitalist and patriarchal exploitation. Critical discussion of the literature on the topic of the interaction between the media and the state, and literature on irregular migration and human trafficking of migrant women in Turkey is also provided in this study.