The Workers

If there is to be a market for sex work, there must be a supply of workers. The workers I focus on for my exhibit are women who voluntarily entered into the profession of sex work. The reason I focus on women for this exhibit is because the majority of the research that is available on sex workers is focused primarily on women and not the men that also occupy the profession. The workers choose to enter this profession for a variety of reasons, such as, a primary source of income, a side job, or the just the joy for the profession. These are just a few of the countless reasons these women enter the market for sex work. The women may not classify their work as being in an economic market but the truth of the matter is that their actions display characteristics of a market, which evolves as the demand (the clients) desires change.

The workers realize that the demands of the market are changing and in response they change their image in order to widen their appeal to potential clients. The self that they portray isn’t truly who they are but in order to get more clients they must create fantasies, of their self’s. In this regard these fantasies could be as complex as taking the persona of a dominatrix or as simple as changing their hair color. They will make these changes in accordance with what is demanded from the clients because like in business sex work is about maximizing profits and the demand for their services. – For more information on body practices Lyris Schulman exhibit, could explain more.

The workers also realize that, just like any other business, they have to get their services out into the public eye. So besides just standing outside waiting for a client to pull up, in the case of streetwalkers (as is depicted in the upper picture). They now must advertise their services in order to attract more clients. Examples of this include internet postings, tinder pages, Instagram accounts or even just flyers. An example of these Instagram accounts, which can be seen in the middle image, in the image the sex worker is advertising that she is with her girlfriend and needs the company of a male suitor.

Another big component of any successful business is figuring out how to maximize profits while minimizing labor. The workers have devised strategies to “Work Smarter Not Harder” [1] because they don’t want to overwork themselves in order to bring in large profits. This point will be addressed in the better business practices page of the exhibit.

The lower image on this page is a police notice directed at madams of brothels, informing them on how their workers should behave. In this fashion the police are using their power not to stop prostitution but to regulate it, in a manner so those who do not use the business won’t be affected. This is very similar to how other businesses have been regulated to protect not only the establishments but the public as a whole. This image not only shows how sex work can be viewed as a business, since it is being regulated like businesses are accustomed to,  but also the outcomes of regulation, which will be addressed more in later pages.

The regulations can be roughly translated to : 

FIRST ARTICLE.

It is forbidden to the Street girls to appear on the public roads, for the purpose of getting

themselves noticed there, before the lighting of the street lamps, and to stay there after eleven

o’clock at night.

Their appearance should be decent.

II.

They are forbidden from doing anything that would cause debauchery.

III.

They will not be able to be stationed at their door, nor to situate themselves at their windows,

at whatever hour and under whatever pretext it may be.

IV.

It is forbidden to them to be stationed on the public road, to form groups there, to circulate

in a meeting there, or to come and go in a space that is too narrow.

V.

The gardens and accesses of the Palais-Royal, of the Tuileries, of Luxembourg, and of the

Jardin-du-Roi (Garden of the King) are closed to them.

VI.

It is also forbidden to them to frequent the deserted and obscure streets and places, as well as

the Cabarets and other public establishments; or particular houses where one would secretly

promote prostitution.

VII.

The Street girls will abstain when they are in their domicile from all that could give rise to

complaints from the neighbors and passersby.

VIII.

The ones who contravene the measures that precede will be arrested and severely punished.

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IX.

Every House Mistress will be responsible for the violations of the present regulations that

she would have been able to prevent.

X.

The General Secretary and the Heads of the 2nd Division and of the municipal Police are

charged with the execution of the present (rules?).

The Advisor of the State, Prefect of the Police;

Signed, A. GIROD (of Ain);

By the prefect;

The general Secretary, signed, P. MALLEVAL  [2]

 

 

 

[1] Akers, Naomi, MPH, and Cathryn Evans, eds. Occupational Health & Safety Handbook. 2010.

[2] Translation of Parent-Duchatelet Composite File, 2013. Translation by Greggor Mattson, PhD, 2016. Translation by Noëlle Marty ’17, 2016.