Review of: Christoph Palmert, Suzan Douma, Matthias Meitzler, Johannes Wahl: Devianz als Alltag. Eine wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit Prostitution, Freiern und Stripclubs im Frankfurter Bahnhofsviertel. Norderstedt: Books on Demand 2009.

Abstract

The volume at hand contains contributions from four junior scholars who have engaged in a scholarly examination of prostitution carried out in the area surrounding the train station in Frankfurt am Main. As the title of the work suggests, they classify their studies under the category of “deviance” analysis. The methodological approach used – fieldwork – seems entirely appropriate for confronting dominant conceptions of the deviant nature of prostitution with empiricism. Unfortunately, the volume fails to link its ethnographic observations with a scientific analysis of the terms “deviance” and “norms” (and their social construction). Moreover, a consideration of the relationship between space, gender, and politics in light of the special case of prostitution in the area around the Frankfurt train station is sorely missed.