Browse Exhibits (27 total)
Outside the Law: Governing Class Through Prostitution
This exhibit will examine the origins of prostitution regulation in 19th century Paris in order to show the ways in which the regulation of prostitution is a means to govern class through crime.
Alexandre Parent-Duchâtelet: on Prostitution and Public Health
An overview of Alexandre Parent-Duchâtelet's study of prostitution as it relates to public health and of his work to improve the conditions in which prostitutes lived.
Grisettes: Then and Now
In the early 1800s in France, the grisette was a young girl who left the countryside to pursue a new life in Paris. She worked in the world of fashion, often as a seamstress. A rich university student would seek out a grisette to live with him and help with domestic chores. The two would then have a mutually beneficial relationship. Learn more about aspects of the grisette and where they are now by browsing our exhibit!
From Lorettes to Escorts: Media Representations of Female Sexworkers
In 19th century French literature and art, the lorette was a sexworker, typically of the working class from different cities across France, whose goal was to improve her social standing in Parisian society through lavish gifts from her wealthy clients. While not always successful, lorettes aimed to achieve enough social mobility to fool members of the elite into thinking that she was one of their own. Although the lorette was made popular through caricature and satire, and later in famous novels, there are references to real-life lorettes in the work of Alexandre Parent du Châtelet, Maurice Alhoy and Paul Gavarni. In these media representations, lorettes are simultaneously fetishized for their sexual prowess and feared because of their materialism and greed, which threatened to financially and morally degrade members of Paris’ elite.
The modern-day equivalent of the lorette is an escort. An escort is a sexworker who accepts cash and sometimes luxury gifts from elite clients in exchange for her work so that she may gain cultural and social capital. Escorts are racially and ethnically diverse and are not limited to women. Just as lorettes were portrayed in writing and art, escorts are shown in modern media, like television and film, but they have autonomy over their own stories. In these stories, they become the protagonist of their own narrative by making their own decisions about their clientele, personal lives, and finances, rather than being depicted as a reliant, subservient and malicious character like the lorette.
The increased autonomy that an escort has in media representations has evolved from the objectifying male gaze seen in 19th century literary examples of lorettes, demonstrating the transformation over time of attitudes towards sexwork and female sexual empowerment.
Streetwalkers: Then & Now
Streetwalkers have long asserted their presence in public spaces. This exhibit compares streetwalking in 1830s Paris with streetwalking in contemporary times to explore the diversity of experiences as well as aspects of autonomy often overlooked in mainstream discourse surrounding streetwalkers, their lifestyles, and their use of public space. By examining streetwalking in the digital era, male and transgender people who are streetwalkers, streetwalkers’ methods for harm reduction, media portrayals of streetwalkers, and the reasons people choose to walk the streets, this exhibit compares the realities of streetwalkers then and now.
Legal Brothels: Past & Present
This exhibit looks at the experiences of brothel sex workers in legalized systems of prostitution from both mid-nineteenth century Paris and contemporary cities. Legal brothels allow the state to maintain control over the area and the workers involved in the operation.
Generally, the state tracks the employees in sex work, monitors working and living conditions, financially regulates the business, and ensures compliance to laws and regulation. Examining legal brothels in 19th century Paris and contemporary legal brothels in Nevada, Amsterdam, and Tuxtla, this exhibit parallels past and present daily life, state regulation, public perception, and clientele. The historical portrayal of brothel women is grounded in Alexandre Parent-Duchâtelet’s On Prostitution in the City of Paris, official archived police documents, personal accounts, and various other French artifacts from the period. Ethnographies, academic studies, and articles encompass our analysis of modern brothel workers.
While legalization enhances brothel sex workers’ legal status and promotes health and safety, it also permits the state to introduce regulations that exploit the industry and its workers. Additionally, brothel sex workers still face oppression and experience stigma, creating tangible disadvantages that limit their autonomy.
Madams and Pimps: Contextualized Identities
Broadly speaking, a madam or pimp is a third-party intermediary between a prostitute and a client who, in return for arranging meetings and setting up a network of clients, takes part of a prostitute’s earnings. It would be easy to mark the distinction between a madam and a pimp as a gendered one - madams representing the female figure and pimps the male one. But these two identites are much more historically and socially charged than can be initially perceived - which is why we chose to designate them as "contextualised identites" in the title.
In this exhibit, we mainly seek to compare the role of the 19th century madam in Paris to the contemporary pimp in the United States. We seek to demonstrate that, although the main purpose of the pimp - i.e. making profit off of prostitutes’ work as a managerial intermediary - has remained identical, many other changes have unfolded in their activity. Notably, their way of conducting the business, their social status and gender-related perceptions, as well as their relation to law enforcement have all evolved over time.
This exhibit will therefore highlight these evolutions in the economic, social, and legal domains.