Then: Mandatory Health Regulations

19th Century French police document outlining a series of regulations for the prostitutes.

Extrait des Règlement Paris Police Archives. Circa 1840.

Mandatory Health Checks

In 19th century France, each prostitute was required to register with the state police. Once registered, prostitutes were subject to several regulatory measures, including mandatory health checks . The Préfecture de police document, Extrait Des Reglament, reads: “Street girls are required to appear once every fifteen days at the Health Clinic to be examined… Those who resist or who give fake identification, dwelling, or of name, will face severe punishment.”[1] This regulation dates back to the arête of 12 ventose Year X, March 3 1802. The Lautrec painting on the left displays a group of women waiting for one of these health checks. 

In 1805, Official health dispensaries (official health centers that examined prostitutes for veneral diseases) were introduced by the arête of 1 Prairal Year XIII. Before this, health checks took place unofficially in doctor’s homes.[2] Each prostitutes was required to pay three francs each time she was examined. These payments were used to directly fund these mandatory health checks. During one year 46,654 health examines were administered; this must have created a significant source of revenue for the police department.[3]

The Dispensary: Where the Checks took Place 

For three years all mandatory health checks took place in a doctor’s home. This informal setting was not well regulated by the police. The doctors in charge of the checks were accused of fraud and malpractice, allegedly pocketing much of the revenu, as well as illegally hiring two medical students to preform the examinations. Following this fiasco, the dispensary was established as a state-run highly regulated institution.[4] In these dispensaries, women were required to disclose their name and address to the doctors. With this information, the police would be able to monitor the prostitutes. If a prostitute did not comply with the monthly health inspections, the police would ostensibly be able to track and find the prostitutes. It is unclear, however, how rigorously these policies were enforced. According to Harsin in Policing Prostitution, police enforcement was marked by a “sporadic nature.”[5] Despite this sporadic nature, there were in fact monetary incentives to regulate prostitutes. In next section, I will explore how the gendarmes, or policemen were given considerable financial incentive for the capture and detainment of prostitutes. 

Financial Incentives for the Capture of Prostitutes

The gendarmes were given considerable financial incentives for the capture of prostitutes. The "Special Commission for the Suppression of Prostitution" called for a specific system of bonuses that rewarded policemen for each prostitute they caught. It reads, “A compensation of three francs will also be granted for the capture of a girl that is recognized at the clinic as having a contagious disease and is designated for the hospital, would not have returned to the prefecture by the indicated time, or who would have evaded the hospital that which she would have been treated for a contagious illness.”[6] These bonuses served to motivate policemen to enforce these regulations more vigorously, more forcefully, and more fully. In incentivizing the arrest of prostitutes, this mechanism may have in fact countered the historically sporadic nature of police enforcement. 

What this Mechanism Achieves

These legislations offer specific, enforceable rules and regulations for prostitutes. The dispensaries greatly aid in this. They offer a center of regulation where the prostitutes can be tracked and disciplined. Furthermore, mandatory health checks ostensibly ensure public safety and the safety of the prostitute (I will show, however, that this is in fact not the case). Finally, the financial incentives serve to motivate the police to enforce these regulations more forcefully and more fully. Unfortunately, all of this comes at the expense of the well-being of the prostitutes.

What this Mechanism does not Achieve

Despite the mandatory health checks, and the financial incentives, venereal disease was incredibly common among prostitutes. After one 19th century health check thirty three out of the fifty three tested women were “found to be ‘more or less afflicted with venereal disease’”[7] Additionally these health checks bore the financial burden onto the prostitute. These health checks were compulsory for all prostitutes, thus the police were effectively taxing the prostitute just for the nature of her work. Why should a prostitute be forced to pay for her own regulation and control? In making health checks mandatory, we presume that prostitutes are unable to care for themselves—the police presumably need to track and discipline the prostitutes to force them to get treatment. This creates an environment that makes the prostitute fear the health center, as a positive test would criminalize them. In doing so, mandatory health checks may in fact have the opposite effect desired—incentivizing prostitutes to avoid the health center for fear of criminalization.

[1] Paris Police Archive. DA223, “Extrait des Règlements: Les Filles publiques sont tenues de se presenter une fois tous les quinze jours au Dispensaire de Salubrité, pour y être visitées.” Translated by Noelle Marty and Stephanie Gunter. Gallica