En stigmatiserande och marginaliserande kunskapsproduktion: en diskursanalys om statens kunskapsproduktion om köp och försäljning av sexuella tjänster

Sammanfattning: In 1999, purchase of sexual services (6 Ch. 11 § The Swedish Penal Code, The Act against the purchase of sexual services) was criminalized in Sweden and the debate about it has been ongoing ever since. Previous research has primarily been attitude studies concerning social norms as well as research criticizing state agencies’ attitude towards people with experience of selling sex. Inspired by these two research fields this essay examines the norms which are constructed and reproduced in documents by The National Board of Health and Welfare and the latest Swedish Government Official Report (SOU) regarding purchase of sexual services, also known as the state’s production of knowledge in this paper. The study uses a discourse analysis, where Goffman’s stigma theory (2011) and intersectionality serves as explanatory tools. The study shows that by identity and relationship constructions, the state’s production of knowledge can stigmatize and marginalize already vulnerable groups in society. In this way, it is concluded that the state can legitimize the continued suppression and the norms are very likely to spread to the meso and micro level due to the state being such a strong norm-setter.