The Legal Language of Sex: Interpreting a Hierarchy of Prostitution Using the Terminology of Criminal Charges

Summary

It is generally acknowledged that there was a hierarchical structure to turn-of-the-century sex trade, with madams at the top and streetwalkers at the bottom. But what did this structure mean for the women who inhabited these roles? And how can we access all levels of the hierarchy? Police magistrate court dockets provide a valuable lens through which to analyze prostitution in Fargo, North Dakota during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Additionally, these documents speak to the informal regulation of prostitution, despite its illegality. In this paper, complex positions in the prostitution hierarchy are interpreted by dissecting the terminology used to charge women and men involved in the sex trade. By considering both gender and socioeconomic status, this research begins to understand how the hierarchical tiers reflected the social positions of their members, while illuminating relationships between the red light district and the larger community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Streetwalkers, Fallen Doves, and Houses of Ill Fame: A Historical and Archaeological Discussion on Prostitution   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 308