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Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa

Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lourens, Marna
Other Authors: Human, C. S.
Format: Thesis
Language:en_ZA
Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Lourens, Marna
author2 Human, C. S.
author_browse Human, C. S.
Lourens, Marna
author_facet Human, C. S.
Lourens, Marna
author_sort Lourens, Marna
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv Stellenbosch University
description Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/130211
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language en_ZA
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:45:40.774Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
publisherStr Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/130211 Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa Lourens, Marna Human, C. S. Coetzee, Azille Human, Sonia Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Private Law. Restorative justice Prostitutes -- Crimes against -- South Africa Sex workers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa Women -- South Africa -- Social condition. Prostitution -- Law and legislation -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study provides insight into the lived experiences of sex workers in South Africa and the legal and policy frameworks that shape their lives, with the ultimate goal of contributing to a more just and equitable society. This was done through an intersectional analysis of the position of the sex worker in South Africa within a constitutional dispensation. The transition to democracy prompted a significant and radical paradigm shift in South African law. It required the transformation of patterns of legal, social, cultural, and economic disadvantage, which was intended to serve all of those who have previously been excluded or situated on the margins. It is questionable, then, why sex workers suffer human rights abuses with high incidences of sexual and other violence, unemployment, and lack of access to legal and health services. A key finding of this study is that the criminal law framework cannot respect the sex worker as an autonomous individual while simultaneously addressing her vulnerability within institutionalised frameworks of power. Far from being something obvious and an expression of natural law, the regulation and criminalisation of sex work have always been ambiguous and contested, serving larger agendas of colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid governments. Informed by rigid gender identities and expectational norms, various agendas of punitive control have entrenched an ideological legal framework that excludes sex workers from constitutional protection. Because sex workers remain outside the realm of constitutional protection, they have been unable to improve their lives. This research, therefore, highlights the critical need to reframe the lens through which sex work is approached in South Africa. The study shows that to understand and act against social injustice, the life worlds of marginalised people should be the starting point of any academic and other enquiries. Intersectionality is a lens that recognises complex relationships and the differing coercive circumstances within which people exercise agency. It supports a view of justice that does not deny the reality of exploitation in sex workers’ lived experiences but rather draws attention to the role of wider social structures in its reproduction. Insofar as it moves the discourse beyond punishment and retribution (the criminal law as justice), intersectionality is a lens that recognises the relevance of lived experience, social location, embodiment and contexts of power and knowledge-making. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Doctoral 2024-02-21T10:28:45Z 2024-04-26T09:21:04Z 2024-02-21T10:28:45Z 2024-04-26T09:21:04Z 2024-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130211 en_ZA Stellenbosch University vi, 308 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
spellingShingle Restorative justice
Prostitutes -- Crimes against -- South Africa
Sex workers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa
Women -- South Africa -- Social condition.
Prostitution -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
UCTD
Lourens, Marna
Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title_full Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title_fullStr Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title_short Towards transformative justice for un-coerced adult female sex workers in South Africa : an approach that speaks to the multi-layered and multi-faceted realities of women in South Africa
title_sort towards transformative justice for un coerced adult female sex workers in south africa an approach that speaks to the multi layered and multi faceted realities of women in south africa
topic Restorative justice
Prostitutes -- Crimes against -- South Africa
Sex workers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa
Women -- South Africa -- Social condition.
Prostitution -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
UCTD
url https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130211
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