1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910416091703321

Autore

Caslin Samantha

Titolo

Wolfenden's Women : Prostitution in Post-war Britain / / by Samantha Caslin, Julia Laite

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Palgrave Macmillan UK : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2020

ISBN

9781137440228

1137440228

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (307 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Genders and Sexualities in History, , 2730-9487

Disciplina

306.740941

Soggetti

Great Britain - History

Social history

Civilization - History

Ethnology

History of Britain and Ireland

Social History

Cultural History

Sociocultural Anthropology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction: Prostitution and the Law before the Wolfenden Committee: A brief history -- 2. Prostitution and Public Space -- 3. Beyond London 4. Policing -- 5. Law, Jurisprudence and Punishment -- 6. Brothels, Off Street Premises, Privatization -- 7. Third Parties and Exploitation -- 8. Causes, Intervention, and Pathologization -- 9. Demand -- 10. Wolfenden’s Missing Women -- 11. The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution -- 12. Conclusion: The Legacies of Wolfenden.

Sommario/riassunto

This critical sourcebook compiles excerpts from the extensive interviews undertaken by the Wolfenden Committee on the subject of prostitution. The Committee is remembered, first and foremost, for recommending the decriminalization of sex between men. However, the other half of its remit—prostitution—has largely been forgotten, despite the fact that prostitution, not homosexuality, was the original



impetus behind the Committee’s appointment. If we consider the Committee and its Report from this perspective, its status as both a liberal and permissive endeavour must be called into question. This book captures the controversy, diversity and complexity of opinions surrounding prostitution in this period, and provides critical analysis and context. It restores the question of prostitution to its central place in the history of Britain’s so-called progressive era and challenges the way that the Report and its legacy have been characterized. Crucially, this book highlights the substantial evidence gathered by the Committee on prostitution outside of London, which the Wolfenden Report itself largely disregarded. The excerpts, the reprinted report, and the critical introductions to each chapter are intended to spark important debates amongst students, researchers and the public about the history of sexuality, society and the state in twentieth-century Britain. .