Prostitution and Irish Society, 1800–1940

The first book to tackle the controversial history of prostitution in modern Ireland.

Maria Luddy (Author)

9780521709057, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 December 2007

368 pages, 13 b/w illus. 2 maps 12 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

'A brave, groundbreaking work.' Sunday Business Post

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, how Irish women came to work as prostitutes, their living conditions and their treatment by society. She links discussions of prostitution to the Irish nationalist and suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, analysing the ways in which Irish nationalism used the problems of prostitution and venereal disease to argue for the withdrawal of the British from Ireland. She also investigates the contentious history of Magdalen asylums and explores how the infamous red-light district of Dublin's 'Monto' was finally suppressed through the actions of the Legion of Mary in the 1920s. Revealing complex social and religious attitudes towards prostitution in Irish society, this book opens up a new world in Ireland's social and political history.

Introduction
1. 'Frowsy, Shameless Women': an overview of prostitution in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
2. 'Looking for my Living': women, community and prostitution in Ireland
3. 'Behaved very ill': rescue work and Magdalen asylums in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
4. 'The Black Plague': venereal disease in nineteenth century Ireland
5. 'Soldiers' Totty': nationalists, suffragists and the surveillance of women, 1900-1922
6. 'Hopeless cases': prostitution and sexual danger in the Irish Free State, 1922-1940
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]