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Prostitution in the 19th Century

Audiovisual

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For an overview go to the Dutch version of this website

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Maison Weinthal postcard

Historian and researcher Rob de Spa showed me one of the original postcards that was printed in 1902 on behalf of Guillaume Rigal. This Frenchman was the last brothel keeper of Maison Weinthal in Amsterdam. De Spa found this wonderful source from the past on Marktplaats. But it is not only the front of the card that is fascinating.

Five historical novels on prostitution

What should you be reading during the summer holidays? I have listed my current favourite historic novels on prostitution, although, not all of them are set in the nineteenth century. Yet, the books have in common that they are character studies in which the main leads undergo a journey of transformation as a result of the choices they make. The stories are mainly told through the eyes of the protagonists and it even feels as if they are literally sitting next to you on a bench talking. As a reader, it seems rude to stand up and leave. Besides, you really really want to know how their stories evolve. So I can highly recommend these page-turners. Three of them are written in English and two in Dutch. ENGLISH NOVELS 1. Michel Faber, The crimson petal and the white (Edinburgh 2002) With almost 840 pages it is quite a journey you make with the main character. Yet it was one of the hardest books to put down. When the final chapter was nearing I had to put myself on a 'readi...

Online lecture (history) sex work

On the 17th of February 2022 Johanna Bourke , professor in History at Birbeck, University of London, will give a lecture on Sex Work . The lecture for Gresham College will be streamed online. Registration is required via this link . "In the late nineteenth century, highly contentious debates about prostitution were central to broader questions about women’s status within society, including their rights to property, entitlement to suffrage, and claims over their own bodies. Political scandals such as those over the 1860s Contagious Diseases Acts (which criminalized sex workers, not their customers) and the 1885 Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (which was the first expose of child prostitution in the UK) not only reveal attitudes towards the commercialization of the body but have left a legacy that we live with today." Johanna has written interesting books on women's work and is also the principal researcher for the interdisciplinary project SHaME (Sexual Harms and Med...