This focus is currently relevant in light of the rapid expansion in the vague and ambiguous local norms being used to govern large populations. Legal ambiguity can be seen as a site of power. The existing literature on police discretion has tended to focus particularly on the amount of freedom police officers should have in deciding how and whether to enforce the law.
This paper engages in the less proliferous, but essential, discussion on the role of law in creating new opportunities for arbitrariness and oppression. Moreover, legal ambiguity is also a site of resistance. Social actors are not passive recipients of top-down policies and that same ambiguity may, for some, become an opportunity to struggle for better conditions.
The last section of this paper will describe the series of events that prompted a new shift in relations between sex workers and the police as a consequence of a neo-abolitionist wave. A desire to gain protection from abuse, violence and discrimination was the common feeling behind their meetings and debates. The police force was at the core of their claims. This organization grew stronger and was able to redefine the legal position of sex work-.
Email: marisa. In the words of one of the members of the organization: "Now you won't be just another whore killed in a ditch, another unsolved crime However, this neo-abolitionist wave proved to be highly influential in the years that followed According to the neo-abolitionist standpoint, "prostitutes" should be seen as victims of trafficking that must be rescued.
Organized sex workers were, and still are, facing the consequences of this shift. They claim that sex workers are again abused in their rights, now under the excuse of being rescued. The police force is again the key reference point for their claims. This complex situation can be analyzed from numerous perspectives; it involves, among other things, global and local transformations, gender issues, collective action, rights mobilization, social and legal discrimination. In the following lines, I will focus on one specific question: what is the role of law in the dynamics of power and resistance?
