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Article: Prostitution
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PROSTITUTION
PROSTITUTION.
Between 1450 and 1789, prostitution underwent dramatic changes in organization and policing. Criminalization replaced medieval toleration; a genuine police force appeared in the seventeenth century; and a new attitude toward sex emerged in the late eighteenth century, which pathologized the prostitute and associated her with disease and the urban proletariat.
In the late Middle Ages, prostitution was tolerated. Urban elites in France, Spain, and Germany established municipally owned brothels that were meant to preserve the honor of honest women by satisfying the sexual appetites of the city youth. In the sixteenth century an abrupt change occurred: The ...