The objective of this article is to identify the discursive practices that the State promotes and maintains about prostitution, sex trade and sex work. Based on the theory of speech acts (Austin, 1971/1998, Butler, 2004, Searle, 1990), implicatures (Grice, 1975/1991) and interdiscourses (Charaudeau and Maingueneau, 2005) we studied the legal discourse of 18 norms and laws from a Critical Discourse Analysis approach (Van Dijk, 2005). We argue that the Statés discursive practices, which were related to prostitution and sex trade, have naturalized this job and those women who exercise it as a moral and health threat to the society; Although not using the term "sex work" as a concrete practice, they do refer to the sex workers in order to transfer the management of their health care to them. In this way, these discursive practices keep the activity as a threat, but now the responsibility has been individualized in people who exercise it. © 2018 Universidad Pompeu Fabra. All rights reserved.

critical discourse analysis Sex worker Chilean State Legal discourse Prostitution

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