Stigma, erasure, and change: Newspaper coverage of prostitution in the mid-20th century

This project studied news articles about prostitution in the mid-century U.S. to explore the impact of second wave feminism on coverage. Based on a content analysis of 630 articles downloaded from Newspapers.com from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, it found that while patriarchal values dominated coverage overall, changes could be discerned in the 1970s. Typically, women’s voices were linguistically marginalized even when they were included in coverage. Men, whether as news reporters or as members of law enforcement, were usually the framers of such stories, and when women were included, they were rarely named and quoted far less often. Yet as more women wrote news in the 1970s, stories reflected more concern for women involved in prostitution and were more likely to include their voice. The findings contribute to feminist scholarship and studies of the history of news by underscoring how such coverage, reflected, reinforced, or challenged broader societal hierarchies and power dynamics.