increasingly positioning women as sexually passive and men as sexually impulsive. This had
two effects on cultural perceptions of sex workers. One, reflective of longstanding fears of
female sexuality, created a persona of the deviant, incorrigible prostitute (the antithesis to
the ‘respectable’ asexual female). The other, represented in the poem, was the ‘fallen
woman’, a victim of men’s carnal desires. The control of both was deemed necessary to curb
the broader social issues of overcrowding and sexually transmitted disease. Regulationist
approaches to policing became popular as these allowed for the control of sexual bodies,
whilst simultaneously allowing the male consumer an outlet for their perceived sexual needs.
In the context of global and imperial expansion, these policing methods enabled both the
control of the male sexual body to preserve its fighting efficiency, and the control of the
native female sexual body to assert political authority. Thus, the policing of sex work
reinforced contemporary ideals about sex and gender. Understanding the historical purpose
of policing sex work is important because current policing methods have developed from
their historical counterparts. Considering what effect such methods have historically had on
sex workers, and whether such policing is actually beneficial to communities, is crucial if
more helpful frameworks for sex work policy are to be developed. 43
43 Debbie Jones, Teela Sanders, Student Sex Work: International Perspectives and Implications for Policy and Practice (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), pp. 4-7, 307-309; Wagenaar, Arnesberger, and Altink, pp. 27-29; Ronald Weitzer, Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business (New York: New York University Press, 2013), pp. 4-18
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