Testament pornographe

Abstract

The article takes stock of thirty years of study of various aspects of prostitution in France. It focuses mainly on the logic of production and reception of a sociological analysis elaborated in a context of lively controversies on the status to be reserved to this activity. Going back over the stages of his research career, the author insists on the balance between normative commitment and scientific distancing that must guide the approach to a reality as sensitive as prostitution. He also insists on the discrepancies and misunderstandings that arise from the confusion between sociological and activist languages, which is all the more frequent and conducive to controversy because the audience of sociological writings is impregnated with normative schemes of perception.

Keywords

• prostitution
• sociological epistemology
• language games
• axiological neutrality
• abolitionism