Prostitution and Irish society, 1800-1940 / Maria Luddy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Luddy, Maria.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prostitution--Ireland--History--19th century.

Prostitution.

Prostitution--Ireland--History--20th century.

Prostitutes--Ireland--Social conditions--19th century.

Prostitutes.

Prostitutes--Ireland--Social conditions--20th century.

Prostitution--Social aspects--Ireland.

Prostitution--Political aspects--Ireland.

Prostitution--Political aspects.

Prostitution--Social aspects.

Social conditions.

History.

Ireland.

Physical Description:

xiii, 352 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This is the first book to tackle the controversial history of prostitution in Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Maria Luddy uncovers the extent of prostitution in the country and examines how Irish women came to work as prostitutes, their living conditions and their treatment by society. She provides new insights into the contentious history of Magdalen asylums in Ireland and reveals the inability of both the churches and the government to eliminate prostitution from the streets of Irish towns and cities right through until the mid 1920s. She shows that, while prostitution and venereal disease were viewed as social and moral problems, these issues were politicised by nationalists who linked them to the presence of the British garrison in Ireland and used them to argue for the withdrawal of the British. Once independence was achieved these problems were expected to disappear. However, the apparent increase in illegitimacy and VD rates suggested that something was amiss in the new State.

Revealing complex social and religious attitudes towards prostitution, prostitutes and the expression of sexuality in Irish society, this important study provides new perspectives on Irish social, cultural and political history.

Contents:

1 'Frowsy, shameless women': an overview of prostitution in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries 17

2 'Looking for my living': women, community and prostitution in Ireland 41

3 'Behaved very ill': rescue work and Magdalen asylums in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries 76

4 'The black plague': venereal diseases in nineteenth-century Ireland 124

5 'Soldier's totty': nationalists, suffragists and the surveillance of women, 1900-22 156

6 'Hopeless cases': prostitution and sexual danger in the Irish Free State, 1922-40 194

1 Arrests for prostitution in Ireland, 1863-1940 242

2 Arrests for prostitution in Irish towns and cities, 1838-1920 245

3 Brothels in Dublin, 1838-94 249

4 Some case histories of women who are residents of the Sancta Maria hostel 251

5 Ballads and songs relating to prostitution in Ireland 253.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-344) and index.

ISBN:

9780521882415

0521882419

9780521709057

0521709059

OCLC:

154706356