Brief History of Prostitution

Home , History of prostitution, Marthe Richard, Prostitution in France, Sacred prostitution

2004 Translated by M.-C. Verniengeal

Note by the author This document owes a lot to Max Chaleil’s work. His book, ‘Le corps prostitué : le sexe dévorant’ is the main reference of this file. This historical summary will mainly concern France, even though there are a few comparisons with the situation of prostitution in other countries.

1. The Beginnings : Sexual hospitality and sacred prostitution It is not so sure that prostitution is the oldest trade in the world; the Europeans admitted to it during the colonial years. In some European societies, prostitution was associated with the notion of hospitality – various women of the house were offered to guests passing through. This custom used to exist in Chaldea, in India, in Egypt and throughout the Orient. Such sexual hospitality sometimes even implied a religious aspect that was organized by the priests of certain gods and from which they benefited. Sacred prostitutes were not at all considered in the same way and some of them had specific tasks decided by the high priests. However prostitution was soon reduced to a sexual ritual, revealing its true colours during the Saturnalia and other so-called religious orgies. Thus prostitution became a social phenomenon and started losing its sacred side, even though the rite survived. In addition to sacred prostitution, there were great courtesans in the Orient, not only in India but also in Burma and Korea and above all in Japan. In China, prostitutes originally resembled the Greek Hetaeras but soon after, prostitution became a trade. Amongst Hebrews and Muslims, prostitution was always considered with revulsion and was only practiced by foreigners or slaves.

2. The Birth of Modern Society, The Birth of Prostitution

The evolution of society, from a magical religion to a spiritual one and the desanctification of the sexual act coincided with the replacement of sacred prostitution with profane prostitution. In ancient Asia, the sovereigns became aware of the various possible forms of prostitution and their potential benefits; consequently they established a legal prostitution through the opening of state establishments intended to protect public order and generate public revenues.

2..1 Greece The Greek Republic developed a national economy that led to a strict separation of social relations as well as to a curtailment of women’s freedom. Athens invented a system of exchanging sexual relations for certain financial privileges; the spouses’ role was reduced to that of child bearing and raising. Prostitution became more modern as the State, marriage and the family became institutions at the same time as the development of social hierarchy. If sacred prostitution co-existed with the profane one in Greece, the former soon disappeared as it was no longer in keeping with the newly emerging society. In this patriarchal society, in which only men were allowed to go out in the streets and forums, prostitutes were used as ‘safety valves’ to maintain public order. As prostitution was spreading, Solon decided to regulate it. Lower class state establishments, called the dicterions were founded in Athens and the Priaieus harbour; the prostitutes were imprisoned there. Taxation employees, the pornotropoi were in charge of fixing the tax, controlling the price and watching over the establishments. Besides the classic prostitutes, the Pallaques the Auletrides showed particular erotic qualities enhanced by flute music and dancing while the Hetaeras were courtesans with higher claims.

2..2 Rome In contrast with the situation in Greece, sacred prostitution never existed in Rome. Very early on, marriage was established as a foundation of society. Even though a period of austerity did occur from 753 to 200 BC, the Empire was soon overcome by debauchery. That is why in 180 BC, Marcus decided to register prostitutes for the first time. In reality this process instituted the legal and definitive status of the prostitute as a slave who was not allowed to leave her red-light district. The prostitute bore a card, the licentia stupri and remained unworthy, despicable and deprived of any civil rights until her death. This registration system lasted about 600 years until the V century only to reappear in the XIX century. Foreigners and freed women were allowed to prostitute themselves freely. However, customs become so slack and the number of prostitutes increased to such a degree that authorities forbade certain female citizens to prostitute themselves. “Rome was then home to 35000 registered girls working in 46 official brothels, to which we should add the numerous illicit ones and all the male prostitutes. This represented a significant number when we take into account that the capital had only one million inhabitants.” 1

2..3 Attempts at abolition In 476 prostitution temporarily disappeared with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In the Eastern Roman Empire, which lasted another thousand years, three Emperors attempted to abolish prostitution. In the IV century for the first time in history, Ethodose also fought against pimping. In the V century, Theodose sent into exile and down the mines the fathers and masters who prostituted their daughters and slaves. In the VI century, Justitian shut up brothels and cracked down on pimping; in his reign it was forbidden to receive a prostitute in one’s home or to hire oneself to a tenant. Justinian’s wife, Theodora, tried to establish houses to receive and rehabilitate prostitutes but this double experiment was not met with any success.

3. The Medieval world and its paradoxes

The Middle Ages passed through contradictory periods, from rebellious ones to oppressive ones. Thus, after the advent of Christianity, the Church forbade any extra-marital sexual intercourse and consequently declared prostitution illegal, hunting down prostitutes, who were labelled sinners. However, the springing up of towns allowed a type of prostitution, caused mainly by poverty. The situation of the prostitutes was regulated by an order published during Louis VIII’s reign; their demeanour and clothes were codified. At the same time, the Church often intervened to encourage the sovereigns to tolerate prostitution. But Saint Louis fought pimps by shutting down brothels. The prostitutes were asked to put an end to their activities; they were sent back home or confined to rehabilitation institutions such as the Filles Dieu convent. This attempt was a failure and according to an order in 1254, Saint Louis had to allow the reopening of brothels. Besides, the Church was strongly opposed to Louis IX’s expulsion in 1258 of the public girls from all the towns of the kingdom so that the disturbances caused by men’s urges did not replace prostitution. So a counter society developed on the fringes of Paris and other large towns in France, containing swindlers, thieves, pickpockets, fake cripples, people pretending to be blind and others with dubious morals, together with the prostitutes. Organised crime existed in Paris as an institution as early as the 11 th century and the State had to put up with it. Bourdeaux (a name for brothels) were also found far from the town centres and religious buildings. Prostitution had become an institution, and for a further three centuries the organisation and daily life in brothels remained more or less the same as it had been in ancient Rome. These establishments were

1 Max Chaleil, Le Corps prostitué : Le sexe dévorant , Editions Galilée, Paris, 1981, p. 60.

side by side within the red light districts of the time. Some church authorities collected the profits coming from the brothels, such as in Frankfurt, Strasbourg or Rome, sometimes even taking part in what went on there.

4. The Renaissance, the body era

In the XVI century, customs became more relaxed as the ancient world was rediscovered. The body was once again reconsidered, with its own existence, no longer dependent on the soul. While the Renaissance was the golden age for courtesans, it was also a great time for street girls and brothels. Under François 1 st , Paris, which at the time had 150 000 inhabitants, was also home to 6000 prostitutes. As in previous periods, these girls ended up in prostitution through poverty and war, for the pillaging of towns went hand in hand with rape and abduction.

5. The XVII century’s protest against debauchery

During the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation there was a return to good morals, amongst the members of the new religion as well as the Catholics. People were forced to wise up and be more careful because of syphilis. In France, an order from 1560 abolished the “bourdeaux”. However, the closure of the “bourdeaux” did not put an end to prostitution, as it meant that prostitutes were everywhere, no longer having a specific place to go. They were condemned to a clandestine existence. It was easier for them to roam the streets of the town as they no longer had to wear distinctive clothing; their public licence cost a lot more. Naturally the status of prostitution varied in accordance with the sovereign: Henri IV allowed certain houses to reopen so that the virtue of honest women was protected and his predecessor Henri III’s inclinations were not followed by young people. Louis XIII proved to be equally tolerant; that’s why around 1640, prostitution was accepted and was even in vogue among good society. On the other hand, Louis XIV took severe measures against prostitution, having prostitutes, clients and syphilis patients physically punished. Re-offenders were locked up in the “Maison de Force”, created by the King, so that they led an austere life of work and obedience. This attitude continued until the Revolution, the status of the prostitute never being questioned. The latter was still considered as responsible for her destiny, and the pimps were seldom prosecuted.

6. Prostitution reassumes an important role in the XVIII century

6.1.Louis XV Under the Regency and the reign of Louis XV, prostitution resurfaced: “according to Delaure, there were 32 000 prostitutes at the time; this number decreased towards the end of Louis XV’s reign, and an anonymous study in 1762 put the number at no more than 25 000. Several years later Rétif spoke of 20 000 prostitutes and by the time the Revolution began, the police estimated there were 15 000 girls prostituting themselves, 10 000 of whom worked in the street.” 2 However, in a book dating from 1777, Treaty of abuse in the judicial order, F. Dareau states that prostitutes were allowed to lodge a complaint, whilst honest women were not, but were unable to ask for judicial protection.

6.2.After the Revolution After the fall of the Ancien Régime, prostitutes roamed the streets of Paris freely, often wearing extravagant clothes. In particular they frequented the Palais-Royal area, which at the time was one of

2 Max Chaleil, Le Corps prostitué : Le sexe dévorant , Editions Galilée, Paris, 1981, p. 112.

the most popular spots for prostitutes in Paris. Anyone who was interested in prostitutes could also find out their names and specialities from different almanacs, with titles such as The Book of Young Parisian Ladies’ Addresses, Prices of the Palais-Royal Girls; New List of the Prettiest Prostitutes in Paris, and so on.

7. Regulation in the XIX century

In 1805, Napoléon introduced the registration, inspection and regularisation of prostitutes. It was important to clarify the role and place of woman within the middle class so as to protect society and morals. In 1823, the chief commissioner of police decreed the rules for brothels which were revised by the law of 1903 and remained valid until 1946. 30 000 prostitutes then worked in 150 to 200 brothels, but there were also others working illegally outside. These rules and regulations which applied to prostitution in France and Germany gradually spread all over Europe. In 1871, at the International Congress of Medicine, it was suggested that prostitution be legalised all over the world.

8. The XX century sees a troubled abolitionist movement

In France, at the beginning of the XX century, the policy was regulationist; monitoring of health was compulsory, in particular for the girls who did not work in brothels. The majority of countries had brothels and due to lack of capacity, thousands of women were forced to prostitute themselves outside their country. This traffic was called the “white slave trade”. Josephine Butler, an English woman from the lower Victorian middle class fought in her own country against prostitution as an institution which legalised female slavery. Josephine Butler became aware that under the laws on prostitution in Great Britain, any woman could be accused of soliciting and consequently of prostituting herself, which resulted in a forced registration on the prostitute’s criminal record. But these rules were mainly directed at women from lower classes and could never be directed at a middle-class woman. Josephine Butler set up the National Association of Women, and then created the International Abolitionist Federation in 1875 and was helped by Alfred Dyer, who exposed the traffic of women between England and the rest of Europe. In 1902, following Josephine Butler’s perseverance and thanks to the preoccupations of different governments, the Paris Conference was held, during which the issue of the conditions of the struggle against the white slave trade was tackled. Following this conference, in 1904, an international agreement on the banning of the traffic was ratified by twelve countries. “In 1910, the United States will adopt the amended version of the Mann Law, which continues to govern prostitution in this country: it forbids traffic within the USA of anyone intended for prostitution or any other immoral acts.” 3.

8.1.Seasoning houses After the First World War, the United Nations testified to the continuation of the trafficking of women and children through the 1920s. During this period, an increase in the number of seasoning houses could be seen. In these houses the prices were not very high but the working rhythm was steady: each woman turned between thirty and fifty tricks as a daily average. These brothels were just as profitable as the luxurious ones because the girls only received a small sum and had to work hard.

3 Max Chaleil, Le Corps prostitué : Le sexe dévorant , Editions Galilée, Paris, 1981, p. 193.

8.2.Vichy government Under Vichy, prostitution played a role which was all the more important as it was forbidden in Germany. In France, brothels were regulated, prostitutes were very closely monitored, in particular their health. Whenever a German soldier was contaminated, the prostitute was expelled; pimping was encouraged.

8.3.Marthe Richard’s Law At Liberation, the brothels whose ties to Germany had been too obvious, closed down, whilst others opened, in particular for the benefit of the American soldiers. At the same time many girls returned to the streets and the police hunted down the illegal prostitutes. Although some advocated the nationalisation of brothels, the majority of the members of parliament were in favour of closing them down. “On December 13 th 1945, the Paris town council votes for the closure and banning of the brothels in the Seine county. Finally on April 9 th 1946, the bill is adopted and then voted on the 11th by the Parliament.” 4 However, this law kept the girls under the control of the police and of the underworld, thus making their reintegration more difficult, as their details were recorded in a health and social record of prostitutes.

8.4.The new face of prostitution: the U.N. 1949 Convention and the aftermath of Marthe Richard’s Law Following the fight against trafficking, in 1949 a convention was held by the U.N. on the banning of traffic in human beings and of the exploitation of the prostitution of others. This 1949 agreement was not ratified by France until 1960. From 1946 to 1960, brothels were no longer supposed to exist, however pimping thrived thanks to the few existing brothels. Pimps acting as touts and as those responsible for allocating the prostitutes to brothels throughout the city were also in charge of training the girls; policemen detected the occasional prostitute and those who were caught again were registered. Repressive measures against hotel pimping intensified from the 1960s onwards, but in reality it took almost nineteen years to close down the brothels. From 1975 onwards prostitutes organised themselves into a protest movement. For, on the one hand, prostitution seemed free, since it was much easier to enter into it than it used to be, not necessarily through a pimp; but on the other hand, it did not mean that violence against prostitutes had stopped or that prostitution was legal, since the sixth article of the Civil Code said that it was forbidden to consider the body as a consumable product. Besides, working places were more and more difficult to find, taxes were high and there was no social protection; these factors hindered prostitution activities, which were more and more linked with delinquency. The passing of the law on domestic security on March 18 th 2003 n°2003-239, punishing passive soliciting, pimping, traffic in human beings as well as the use of prostitution of someone particularly vulnerable, shows that prostitution has become a form of delinquency. Drugs which used to be forbidden are now found in prostitution venues. Dealers become pimps. Pimping adapts to new conditions and makes the most of the new developments in communication and computer technology. Last of all, the opening of the borders allows an ever growing sex tourism and international traffic in human beings for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, which becomes a threat both to practising French prostitutes and to the state control of trans-border crime. As occasional prostitution increases and prostitutes are younger and younger, hidden places for prostitution appear: “pseudo-legal” activities, “waitresses”, “hostesses”, “dancers” in bars, clubs and massage parlours protect the pimps. If we consider these successive phases of tolerance and repression of prostitution, it is necessary for current governments to lay the foundations for a society which will eradicate the exploitation of man by man and the reduction of woman to a tradable object.

4 Max Chaleil, Le Corps prostitué : Le sexe dévorant , Editions Galilée, Paris, 1981, p. 211-212.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works - CHALEIL (Max) , Le Corps prostitué : Le sexe dévorant , Editions Galilée, Paris, 1981. - COSTES-PEPLINSKI (Martine) , Nature, culture, guerre et prostitution, Le sacrifice institutionnalisé du corps , L’Harmattan, Paris, 2002.

Articles and files - CHAUVIN (Charles) , La prostitution dans l’Histoire , in Femmes et Mondes , Revue du Mouvement du Nid, n°62, 3e trimestre 1983, pp. 17 à 23. - RIANI (Annick) , Des politiques de répression des prostituées , in Femmes Info , Revue du CODIF (Centre d’Orientation de Documentation et d’Information des Femmes), n°189, hiver 2000, p. 24 à 27. - VILLEY (Colette) , 1946-1996, La fermeture des maisons closes, l’efficacité d’une décision historique , in Prostitution et Société , Mouvement du Nid France, n°113, avril, mai, juin 1996, N°113, pp. 23 à 28. - VILLEY (Colette) , Quand les femmes prostituées manifestent , in Prostitution et Société , Mouvement du Nid France, n°125, avril, mai, juin 1999, pp. 21 à 26. Le commerce du sexe , in L’Histoire , n°264, avril 2002, 28 p. L’histoire méconnue des maisons closes , in Aventures de l’histoire, Hors-Série n°3, juin 2002, 31 p.