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Stories

  • Article

The prostitute whose pox inspired feminists

Fitzrovia, 1875. A woman recorded only as A.G. enters hospital and is diagnosed with syphilis.

  • In pictures

Sex work through the ages

Discover how societies, from antiquity to the present day, have chosen to regard and treat sex workers. While some communities work towards acceptance, others retain harsh judgement.

  • Book extract

A history of sex for sale

Kate Lister’s cultural history of the sex trade puts sex workers centre stage. In this extract, she argues why the way we write, think and talk about sex work matters.

  • Article

Female masturbation and the perils of pleasure

Dr Kate Lister exposes the brutal 19th-century ‘cures’ for women who indulged in masturbation.

All stories (16)

Images

  • Prostitutes in Bern (Berne) being punished by collecting night-soil in the streets. Engraving by C. Warren, ca. 1790.
  • Thoughts on the plan for a Magdalen-House for repentant prostitutes / [Anon].
  • Prostitutes being led through the streets of Naples watched by men from the side and from a window. Engraving by Collyer after S. Wale.
  • The rake carouses in a tavern full of prostitutes. Engraving by Thomas Bowles, 1735.
  • A prostitute wearing a short tight skirt steps between a doorway into a corridor raising her arm with her bag and some tissues; advertisement for safe sex by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC). Colour lithograph.
  • A nobleman and his friends drink with prostitutes in a brothel. Aquatint after H. Dawe, 184-.
  • John and Petra, two prostitutes who think they don't need to use condoms except with customers; advertising safe sex. Lithograph.
  • Reformed prostitutes being led in a group through the streets of Naples for fund-raising, watched by people from a window. Engraving.
  • HIV : the facts for women who sell sex : no-nonsense information about HIV for women who work as prostitutes / Immunity Publications Ltd.
  • HIV : the facts for women who sell sex : no-nonsense information about HIV for women who work as prostitutes / Immunity Publications Ltd.
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Catalogue

All works (3.9K)