ABSTRACT
The “victim status” was prevalent in most public figure interviews. This chapter presents the evidence and analysis for how problems and subsequent solutions emerge based on who occupies this victim status. The neighborhoods were often considered to be victims, which included the residents and the community at large. I begin with an examination of these concepts as victims of prostitution and the central causes of this victimization; namely, drugs, violence, crime, and disease. In contrast to the neighborhoods and their residents, the women were also often viewed as “victims” of street-based sex work. The following section presents these arguments, which reveal an emphasis on the systemic conditions that often allow for and perpetuate this victim standing. Both arguments are complex and contain within them the underlying arguments and beliefs for the ideological kaleidoscopes that emerge in later chapters. I provide a brief overview to help guide the reader through the various tenets of each argument.
