ABSTRACT
Habermas structure-agency rests upon tension between the lifeworld and systems. The lifeworld is increasingly colonised by social systems that, although essential to people society, can supplant the lifeworld by replacing reciprocal interaction with money, power and bureaucratic practices. The decision to analyse legal and media texts was guided by Habermas' description of the media and legal apparatus as critical institutions in relation to lifeworld and colonisation and the prominence of the legal apparatus in particular in previous sex work reports. The sex worker is placed into an environment of constant sexualisation and economic disadvantage that established both the sex act and the body of the sex worker as a commodity of the manager, access to which is negotiated with clients. Canadian federal law concerning the sale of sexual services among adults is paradoxical. As the Canadian Criminal Code needs to be understood within the context of municipal bylaws, the laws must be understood within the context of law enforcement practices.
