A Note on Terminology

Various terms have been used to denote what is referred to in English as a brothel over the years. Under Napoleon’s Consulate (1799-1804), the government decided to tolerate brothels following failed attempts to combat prostitution. These failed attempts stemmed from the difficulty the Consulate faced in defining the various forms of prostitution. Shortly after, Napoleon ordered the registration and biweekly health inspections of all prostitutes and the police prefect of Paris created an official organization of maisons de plaisirs (pleasure houses). The women residing in maisons de plaisir were controlled by the Morals Brigade, and were required to register with the prefecture before being officially recognized as a member of a registered brothel.

There are many popularly used and widely acknowledged terms that refer to a brothel including maison de tolérance, maison close, maison de passe, maison de plaisir, and maison de rendez-vous. As this exhibit focuses on legal brothels, the term maison de tolérance is used in the discussion of 19th century Parisian brothels because it insinuates that the state saw sex work as something to be tolerated. Furthermore, the time period focused on in this exhibit parallels the shift from the popularity of the term maison close to maison de tolérance, as throughout the nineteenth century, the police prefects issued certificat de tolérance (certificates of tolerance) to the tenants and madams of these brothels.

In addition, there are several French terms that mean a sex worker, including fille publique, fille en carte, fille soumise, fille insoumise, and fille de maison. Fille en carte and fille soumise both refer to a woman who is registered (fille soumise implies that the woman is good favor with the police). [1] In this exhibit, we will use fille de maison as we are referring to women who worked at registered brothels. 

[1] Harsin, Jill. Policing Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century Paris. 1985. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. 1-6 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.04506.0001.001.