Event

Prostitutes in Private: Sexual & Consumer Culture in Early-20th Century New York Tenements

Hybrid

Author: Deena Ecker, CUNY Graduate Center
Comment: Kathy Peiss, University of Pennsylvania

This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 PM.

This paper looks at prostitution in the semi-private spaces of the tenements of New York in the early 20th century and how prostitutes engaged in and shaped the consumer and sexual culture of this time as both consumers and commodities. It analyzes issues of family, children and motherhood; sales and solicitation; sartorial choice and consumerism; leisure and entertainment; and the construction of fantasy and sexual culture. The paper explores how different historical actors – prostitutes, pimps, and madams; investigators; and neighbors understood the effects prostitutes and prostitution had on their communities.

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Hybrid Event

The in-person reception starts at 4:30 PM and the seminar will begin at 5:00 PM.

Masks are optional for this event.

The virtual seminar begins at 5:00 PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information.

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