Portal:Prostitution

Shortly after taking power in 1949, the Communist Party of China embarked upon a series of campaigns that purportedly eradicated prostitution from mainland China by the early 1960s. Since the loosening of government controls over society in the early 1980s, prostitution in mainland China not only has become more visible, but can now be found throughout both urban and rural areas. In spite of government efforts, prostitution has now developed to the extent that it comprises an industry, one that involves a great number of people and produces a considerable economic output. Prostitution has also become associated with a number of problems, including organized crime, government corruption and sexually transmitted diseases. For example, a Communist Party official who was a top provincial campaigner against corruption was removed from his post after he was caught in a hotel room with a prostitute. (read more...)

Catherine Walters, also known as "Skittles" (13 June 1839 – 5 August 1920), was a fashion trendsetter and one of the last of the great courtesans of Victorian London. Walters' benefactors are rumoured to have included intellectuals, leaders of political parties, aristocrats and a member of the British Royal Family.

During her life as a courtesan, her discretion and loyalty to her benefactors became the focal point of her career. There were many rumours about her being involved with certain wealthy men of the time, but she never confirmed or denied these rumours. This gave her great weight in the courtesan lifestyle, and made her a sought-after companion. It also gave long life to her career, and helped her to retire a wealthy woman of society around 1890. (read more...)

• ...that Marthe Richard (pictured) was a former prostitute and spy who worked to make brothels illegal in France?
• ...that Duxton Hill in Singapore used to be a notorious slum area with brothels, opium and gambling dens, but now belongs to a conservation area known as Tanjong Pagar?
• ... that in 1861, brothel proprietor Ann Manley rescued part of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment after it was attacked by a mob in Baltimore?
• ... that Melahat Okuyan, a Turkish female microbiologist and AIDS activist, once proposed the establishment of male brothels for homosexuals and cross-dressers in order to improve public health?

• 1st
  • 2015: Paying for sex in Northern Ireland became illegal by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 coming into force.
• 2nd
  • 1975: Occupation of Saint-Nizier church by Lyon prostitutes. The event is commemorated annually on 2 June as International Whores' Day.
• 4th
  • 1998: The Swedish Riksdag passed The Kvinnofrid law, which criminalised the buying of sex.
• 9th
  • 1849: Death of Phoebe Doty, an American prostitute and madam who owned several brothels in New York.
• 15th
  • 1943: Birth of Xaviera Hollander, a Dutch call girl, madam, and author, best known for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.
• 25th
  • 1910: The United States introduced the Mann Act, which made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose"
• 28th
  • 2003: The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 decriminalised Prostitution in New Zealand.

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