Morality Politics and Prostitution Policy in Brussels: A Diachronic Comparison

This paper discusses the genealogy of prostitution policies in Brussels through the lens of morality politics. It uses the analytical framework proposed by Hendrik Wagenaar and Altink (2012) to compare the formulation and implementation of policies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with today’s policymaking in Brussels as well as the discourses underlying those policies. Although it departs from the six characteristics of morality politics, the study introduces one element that adds to the complexity of policymaking in this domain: gender. We argue that a gendered ideology and stigma have informed past and present prostitution policies in Brussels and that the many actors involved in the city’s policymaking have more often than not relied on emotions and personal views on female sexuality to support their calls for the control or outright repression of public commercial sex. The comparative analysis illustrates the persistent symbolic nature of policy formulation and a blatant disregard for data, both of which have led to the approval of unworkable laws and sudden policy shifts. However, the participation of new actors in the debates about prostitution in recent years has ushered in an increase in questionings of morality politics and will hopefully bolster calls for fact-based policies.