Introduction: Variation in Stigma Across Class and Kinship Structures

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Paris in the 1800s

Krom, Steve; George, Eugene, late 19th century, Washington University Digital Collections

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20th Century Nairobi

Mombasa, D.V, Figueira, 1900-1923, www.wdl.org

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Valencia St. Sanfrancisco late 20th century

Carlsson, Chris, 1997, San Francisco's Digital Archive

Although we frequently associate stigma with prostitution, stigma (like prostitution) is not homogenous.  It varies across cultures and forms. It is my hope that this exhibit will illustrate the ways in which stigma changes across indoor and outdoor prostitution in 19th century Paris, 20th century Nairobi, and late 20th century to early 21st century California.  Within each of these cultures, those who engaged in streetwalking and other forms of public, outdoor sex work experienced significantly more condemnation than did those who participated in more private forms of prostitution.  

However, this stigmatization carried different consequences for sex workers within each of these prospective cultures (specifically with regards to family life and kinship.) While public prostitutes inevitably endured labeling and criticism across these three groups, individuals within certain communities were more able to maintain and/or create kinship networks that aligned with society's values than were individuals from other communities.  I suspect this can be explained to a certain degree by the differing economic and social structures present in each of these cultures.  While cultures in the west favor capitalism, independence, and separate family units, communities in Nairobi emphasize more collective social systems in which family and labor are inevitably linked. I allude to this further in the conclusion  

Introduction: Variation in Stigma Across Class and Kinship Structures