Prostitution and Victorian society
Subtitle: women, class, and the state
By: Judith R. Walkowitz.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1980
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 347
Subjects: Prostitution -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.; Sexually transmitted diseases -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.; Sexually transmitted diseases -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.; Women -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
Description: "The state regulation of prostitution, as established under the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866, and 1869, and the successful campaign for the repeal of the Acts, provide the framework for this study of alliances between prostitutes and feminists and their clashes with medical authorities and police. This book makes a major contribution to women's history, working-class history, and the social history of medicine and politics. It demonstrates how feminists and others mobilized over sexual questions, how public discourse on prostitution redefined sexuality in the late nineteenth century, and how the state helped to recast definitions of social deviance."-- Publisher description.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 323-335.
Includes index.