Prostitution in the military environment: social construction of the problem
Students Name: Pertsovych Sofiia
Qualification Level: magister
Speciality: Sociology
Institute: Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Mode of Study: full
Academic Year: 2025-2026 н.р.
Language of Defence: англійська
Abstract: In the context of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the military environment in Ukraine is undergoing radical transformations, forming a specific social context where norms, roles, and interaction practices change. Functioning according to the principles of a "total institution" (E. Goffman), it creates specific conditions of isolation and extreme stress. One of the complex phenomena emerging in this context is prostitution, which acquires new meanings and functions under combat conditions. The relevance of the topic is driven by the need to move away from simplified moralizing assessments towards a sociological analysis of how prostitution is constructed, interpreted, and normalized by various social actors. The theoretical and methodological basis of the work is Social Constructivism (P. Berger, T. Luckmann), which allows for the exploration of the creation of "military reality," and Gender Theory (R. Connell), which explains the role of hypermasculinity and power relations. The work focuses on how society and the army construct the "problem" (or lack thereof) surrounding the provision of sex services. The object of the study is prostitution as a social phenomenon in wartime conditions. The subject of the study is the features of the social construction of prostitution in the military environment during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The aim of the study is to identify the features of social construction and the mechanisms of functioning of prostitution in the military environment during the full-scale war. Research Results: The first section provides a theoretical and methodological analysis of the phenomenon. Interdisciplinary approaches (legal, feminist, economic) and the specificity of the sociological perspective are examined. Classical and modern sociological paradigms (structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism) are analyzed, allowing for the conceptualization of prostitution as a form of secondary adjustment in a total institution. The second section reveals the process of constructing the social problem in the context of modern war. The impact of mobilization and hypermasculinity on the transformation of the military environment is analyzed. The mechanisms of "visibility" and "silence" regarding unofficial practices of sexual exchange are described. The role of state and media discourses in the legitimization or stigmatization of the phenomenon is determined. The third section presents the empirical analysis. A secondary analysis of research on prostitution in armed conflict zones was conducted. Based on the author’s qualitative research (in-depth interviews, N=10), key mechanisms of normalization were identified: economic routinization (the phenomenon of "collective gifting" of services), linguistic neutralization ("domestication" of vocabulary), and institutional blindness. The effect of "territorial stigmatization" of local women in frontline zones was recorded. Keywords: prostitution, social construction, military environment, hypermasculinity, normalisation, stigmatization, social problem. References: 1. Higate, P. (2007). Peacekeepers, Masculinities, and Sexual Exploitation. Men and Masculinities, 10(1), 99—119. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X06291 2. Shand, T. (2022). Masculinities and Putin’s War in Ukraine: Making the Connection between Men’s Gender and the Current Conflict. International Journal of Men’s Social and Community Health, 5(2), e18—e35. https://doi.org/10.22374/ijmsch.v5i2.84 3. Enloe, C. (2014). Bananas, beaches and bases: Making feminist sense of international politics (2nd ed.). University of California Press. https://ir101.co.uk/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/Enloe-Bananas-Beaches-and-Bases-Ch.1.pdf