Conclusions: Governing upon or through?

"A present, je vends du plaisir..." Paul Gavarni. 1852 Lithograph. AMAM.

Duchâtelet’s characterization of the fate of prostitutes is as unkind as the rest of his generalizations. After noting that “it is extremely difficult to know once and for all, and in any precise manner, what they do and what they become” (as the civil service can no longer surveil them), he states that “the most common destiny for the majority of prostitutes, when they don’t die in the profession and when they’re of a class with some sense of integrity, is to attach themselves to an old worker, widowed or bachelor, keep their home, share their work, prepare their food, and pass as their legitimate spouse. It’s common for rag-pickers and scavengers to live with old prostitutes, who are finally getting their justice as few men of those professions marry.” He continues on to note that “many prostitutes turn to stealing; one could say that prostitution is a veil intended to hide their primary profession.”[1]

Paul Gavarni's work, pictured left, shows the fate of an old sex worker, destitute and without recourse to other work. She works as a middle-man, selling the services of younger sex workers for them, likely one of the older callers allowed by law outside of a brothel.

From the descriptions given of prostitutes by Parent-Duchatelet, the police, and some members of the public, it is clear that the prostitute is an analogue for the lower classes of Paris: Prostitution manifests as a permanent imputation of inferiority, as descriptions of prostitues comprise often-repeated stereotypes of the negative attributes of the lower social classes. Even facially, it is not possible to lump Courtesans, Lorettes, femmes galantes, femmes publiques and the invisible part-time sex worker into any category with the certainty Parent-Duchatelet and the police do, much less such as damning characterization. 

Registration of prostitutes allowed the police to monitor and restrict the actions, movements, social networks, and the place of residence of prostitutes. These regulations could be applied to any person for any reason: coupled with the broad scale targeting of members of the lower social class via the police’s enforcement methods, it is clear that the regulations for prostitutes in 19^th century Paris were overbroad if the goal were merely to control prostitution. The regulations provided a method for the city’s administration to govern class through crime. The framework applied here can be used to analyze prostitution laws today, as well as any other set of regulations governing private conduct. [2]