Prostitution as an occupation prevails within the society from ancient times. However, just recently
this phenomenon started to receive more attention in the international and national setting, the states
intend to find the best way to address and regulate it. Various agents involved, such as international
and national organisations, governments, NGO’s, human right activists, social movements, Church
etc. holds opinion about the way prostitution should be governed. These diverging opinions,
discourses of prostitution dominating within the state and also historical aspects underly the way
prostitution is controlled. Besides, prostitution in itself is a delicate subject, thus, prostitutes are often
seen as victims and sexually exploited. This Master thesis offers a critical analysis of the prostitution
policy field in Lithuania. By employing Carol Bacchi’s approach to policy analysis What’s the
Problem Represented to be? (WPR), it breaks apart and interrogates the policy field of prostitution.
Besides, it reflects on the construction and framing of the discourse of prostitution as well as on the
existing standpoint, which all underlie the legal regulations and explain state’s rationalities behind
them. The findings of the research suggest that the state of Lithuania frames prostitution as just being
forced, therefore, the outcome of human trafficking, while other prostitutes are criminalised and
silenced. The overall discourse of prostitution is rather hostile which explains the current position and
legal framework adopted.