Tribades in Prisons in Parent-Duchâtelet's chapter "Moeurs et habitudes des prostituées"

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Title page of Chapitre II: Moeurs et Habitudes des Prostituées in Parent-Duchâtelet's De la prostitution dans la ville de paris, p. 109 in the 1857 edition.

An observation Parent-Duchâtelet made repeatedly while inside women’s prisons was that prostitutes who were tribades belonged to the type of woman known as filles libres. These sexually free women were known for their tendency to pervert the other inmates after being in prison for a number of years. It is the women’s prisons, Parent-Duchâtelet observes, where lesbianism is the most rampant. He marks the ages between twenty-five and thirty as when prostitutes practice lesbianism as un genre de libertinage, or today what is often considered as ‘experimentation,’ after having been prostitutes for upwards of six years. Stages of experimentation start earlier, in Parent-Duchâtelet’s observations, if the prostitute has been to prison.

There are few vieilles prostituées who do not end up as tribades. According to Parent-Duchâtelet, these former prostitutes have a hatred of men, for they have associated with mostly thieves and villains, and therefore begin affairs with other women. Observing affairs between women, Parent-Duchâtelet was surprised to find a disproportion in age and agreement between two lovers. He observes, on one hand, a young lover who finds intimacy as an expression of youth and amenity, and on the other hand, an older lover who finds intimacy as true attachment and passionate love. Parent-Duchâtelet asks, “Where does this attachment come from and how are such liaisons formed?”

Parent-Duchâtelet was able to procure correspondences between tribades from the prison cells he visited. In one example, he reads a series of letters addressed to a female prisoner from the same woman. Parent-Duchâtelet notices what appears at first as the typical contents of any other lover letter, une déclaration d’amour. However, he notices the obscured, if not covert and reserved, style of the letter. The second letter expands on its considerations for the reader, and the third letter expresses, in Parent-Duchâtelet’s words, the most "unbridled passion." Parent-Duchâtelet notes the ways the older woman seduces the younger woman, namely, preying upon her lack of education and thus encouraging her through promises of emotional security.

Relationships between women in the prison merited special attention by the guards, especially when a tribade was abandoned or left by the woman she was courting. Specifically, Parent-Duchâtelet cites duels occurring at the La Force Prison. This particular prison was located on on Rue Pavée, west of the Bastille, and began operation in 1780 before closing in 1845, ten years after Parent-Duchâtelet published On Prostitution in the City of Paris. Parent-Duchâtelet notes how the director of the prison, Monsieur Chefdeville, would write to the police prefects to request authorization to separate targeted prisoners. In line with his findings about abandonned tribades, Parent-Duchâtelet remarks how tribades, more frequently than common prostitutes, noticed pregnancy within the prison. He believes this affect comes with the sensitivity of tribades to the presence of men. 

When concluding his findings on tribades, Parent-Duchâtelet writes, "One can consider tribades as fallen to the lowest degree of vice which a human being can attain, and because of this, they require private surveillance by those responsible for the surveillance of prostitutes, but especially on the part of the people entrusted to the direction of the prison dedicated to these girls." (1) Though Parent-Duchâtelet's consideration is his own opinion, it may be a reflection of his rapport with the prison guards, who distrusted lesbianism and its ensuing complications of surveillance. As Chapitre II: Moeurs et habitudes des prostituées continues, Parent-Duchâtelet remarks, "These misfortunes have, at various times, held the attention of administrators." (2) Though Parent-Duchâtelet may have shared in the prejudices against homosexuality of his time, his main concern is the safety of prostitutes in prisons.

(1) « On peut donc considérer les tribades comme tombées dans le dernier degré du vice auquel un créature humaine puisse atteindre, et par cela même elles exigent une surveillance toute particulière de la part de ceux qui sont chargés de la surveillance des filles publiques, mais plus particulièrement de la part des personnes auxquelles est confiée la direction de la prison consacrée à ces filles » (De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris, 167).

(2) « Ces malheureuses ont, à différents époques, fixé l'attention des administrateurs » (De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris, 167).

 

Tribades in Prisons in Parent-Duchâtelet's chapter "Moeurs et habitudes des prostituées"