Call for papers
The aim of this project is to write a global and comparative history of female prostitution from 1600 to the present. Notwithstanding the large number of national studies on particular aspects of prostitution (e.g. regulation, attitudes or labour market), no international comparison over a significant span of time has been attempted. This project attempts to achieve a comprehensive overview on prostitution from a global labour history perspective. It studies prostitution as a societal phenomenon as well as a form of labour, and focuses, therefore, on prostitutes' working/living conditions and work culture.
Since prostitution is an overwhelmingly urban phenomenon linked to the evolution of commercial society, the focus will be world cities. We start in the early modern period in order to gauge whether practices of and attitudes toward prostitution changed with industrialisation and the subsequent increase in urbanisation. Also, by thus including the pre-colonial situation, we can observe to what extent prostitution changed with the settlement of Europeans in overseas territories. The focus on modern and contemporary periods is justified by the profound political, military and socio-economic changes since the 17th century. Processes of colonization, (proto- and de-) industrialisation, urbanisation, the decline of agriculture, the emergence of class systems, the rise of nation states and state control, military modernisation and development of modern communication forms most probably had an impact on the practice of prostitution and on societal reactions to it. The increased organisation of prostitutes during the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the increased scholarly attention to prostitution and the main actors within the sex industry (prostitutes, pimps, brothel keepers, traffickers, clients, etc.), additionally encourage extending the research to the present.
The project follows a research model of earlier comparative projects conducted by the International Institute of Social History on the history of dock and textile workers. In the first phase of the project we seek to collect urban studies on the history of prostitution in different countries for the period between 1600 to the present. To facilitate international comparisons the authors of these urban overviews will be requested to respond to the topics/questions that are listed in a framework document (see below, after the time schedule). In the second phase of the project, and based upon the collection of urban overviews, a number of authors will be invited to write thematic comparative papers on prostitution with relation to migration, regulation, war/army building, colonisation, ethnicity, labour market and living conditions, influence of male working environments such as ports and army camps, socio-demographic profiling of prostitutes, prostitutes' activism and (national and international) organisation, and societal views on (female) prostitution and masculinity. These will be discussed at a conference, which will take place in Amsterdam/The Hague, on 14-16 February 2013.
Authors are invited to send a short proposal for urban overview(s) of a maximum 500 words to Magaly Rodríguez García (mrodrigu [at] vub.ac.be) by 15 November 2011. Based upon their cosmopolitan character with regard to commercial and/or military activities, we have decided to minimally include the following cities in the project:
Africa:
Cairo, Casablanca, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town
Asia:
Shanghai, Bombay, Manila, Surabaya
Europe:
Amsterdam, Florence/Rome, Istanbul, London, Moscow, Paris, Hamburg/Berlin, Stockholm
Latin America:
Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Guatemala City
North America:
Manhattan/New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans
Oceania:
Sydney, Melbourne
Time schedule:
15 November 2011:
Deadline for urban overview(s) proposals
15 December 2011:
Letters of acceptance (or rejection) of proposals
1 March 2012:
Invitation to experts to write thematic narratives
1 July 2012:
Deadline for urban overviews
1 December 2012:
Deadline for thematic narratives
14-16 February 2013:
Conference in Amsterdam/The Hague
Selling Sex in the City: Prostitution in World Cities, 1600 to the Present - Framework document
For the sake of comparison, we aim to gather as much as possible similar informationfor all towns described in the project. We expect urban overviews to coverprostitution in the town in question between 1600 and the present (or for the time thetown existed, if it did not exist as a town of sufficient size for the full four centuries).
Please try to cover all aspects mentioned below (as far as they are relevant in the townand period discussed) and give all periods due attention. Do not focus solely on anaspect that you have devoted your research to and/or that you can offer newinformation on.
Framework document for urban overviews
1. Introduction: A few paragraphs for any remarks on historiography,methodology and sources.
2. Definitions (overlapping of legal and cultural definitions throughout place andtime): This section should make clear what in the town (country, culture)discussed a prostitute was considered to be. What activities constituted (also)prostitution (e.g. adultery) and which did not (e.g. sexual services from a slaveto her master); which sexual services were considered close to or distinct fromprostitution; was prostitution (perceived as) a criminal or a moral offence andwhich aspect of it where considered criminal?
3. The labour market for prostitution:
a. Prostitutes' social profiles
i. Religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds
ii. Education level
iii. Employment prior or parallel to prostitution
iv. Family situation (married; unmarried; children...)
v. Age structure (age of beginning and end of prostitution):temporary or life-long activity?
vi. Prostitutes' physical and psychological health
b. Push and pull factors
i. Urbanization and industrialization
ii. Proletarization and pauperization
iii. Gender segregation in the 'regular' labour market
iv. Demographic transition (e.g. gender balance in population;delayed marriages and family formation)
v. Concentrations of males with money to spend: mines, garrisontowns, naval bases, ports...
vi. War
vii. Migration; trafficking
viii. Impact of women's socio-economic emancipation onprostitution
ix. Communication and transport revolutions and their influenceon prostitution
c. Changes of working conditions throughout time and place:
i. In-door; out-door soliciting
ii. Payment systems (exchange of sex for any valuedcommodity/sexual barter: also considered prostitution?)
iii. Prostitution during wartimes and near military concentrationsin peace times
iv. Prostitution as casual or permanent employment: part- or fulltimeactivity?
v. Relation to other forms of sex work (dancing, stripping,massage) or related professions (masseuse, nightclub hostess)
vi. Material conditions of subservience imbedded in a widerstructure of gendered, economic, class or racial subservience?
d. Prostitute/employer/client-relationship:
i. Independent work or under 'protection' of madams, pimps orescort agents?
ii. Forced or free choice (as far as this can be determined)?
iii. Conditions of compliance and traces of defiance (formal andinformal activism) towards clients, employers and/or labourintermediaries (pimps, madams, brothel keepers, escort agents,owners of massage parlours or barber shops...)
e. Prostitutes' culture
i. Hierarchy
° Did issues of race, ethnicity and class play a role in theshaping of hierarchy? And vice versa: did prostitution helpproduce racial and class hierarchies?
° How did location, types of clients, levels of 'protection'(madams, pimps, escort agents...) and earnings influence theshaping of hierarchies?
ii. Solidarity: did social constructs based on race, religion, classand age encourage or discourage group solidarity?
iii. Self-presentation and prostitutes' attitudes towards prostitution:survival, inclination, emancipation, desire for luxuryconsumption, attraction to easy earnings, disdain of 'normal'work...?
4. Society and prostitutes
a. (State and non-state) Persecution and violence
b. State regulation/prohibition/tolerance
c. Non-state actors' activism: religious and secular social workers;feminists
d. Effects of women liberalization (tolerance of pre-marital sex): declineof prostitution? Increased acceptance of prostitution as a way of life?
5. (Optional) Special cases
a. Child prostitution
b. Male and homosexual prostitution
c. Prostitution in non-urban areas
Magaly Rodríguez García
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
mrodrigu [at] vub.ac.be
Lex Heerma van Voss
Huygens Institute for Dutch History
Lex.HeermavanVoss [at] huygens.knaw.nl
Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk
International Institute of Social History
enm [at] iisg.nl