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Domesticating Prostitution

Study of an Interactional Web of Space and Gender

Darmstadt University of Technology

Renate Ruhne

Darmstadt University of Technology

The authors explore the political and social changes in sex work in Germany from the 1950s to the present. The article uses a theoretical framework in which sociological reconstructions of events are analyzed as interactional webs conditioned by shifting relations of dominance and agency. The interpretation of events focuses on how public policy that moved prostitution from public space had implications not only for public space, but also contained gender and class-specific components. Prostitutes who were initially `unpleasantly' conspicuous in the streets of the city increasingly disappeared from the eyes of the public. This disappearance was the result of purposive and far-reaching spatial policy. In the context of `traditional localization' on the one hand and increasing public policy pressure on the other, prostitution concentrated more and more in a few, narrowly limited urban areas. This new spatial situation brought about shifts in power between the various groups involved.

Key Words: sex work • space • gender • women's movement • social control

Space and Culture, Vol. 12, No. 2, 232-249 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1206331209331599


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