Archaeology of a Brothel in Nineteenth-Century Boston, MA provides an accessible and thought-provoking account of the archaeological understanding of nineteenth-century prostitution in Boston, Massachusetts.
The book explores how the practice of nineteenth-century sex work involved a careful construction of fantasy for brothel customers. This fantasy had the potential to provide financial stability and security for the madam of the establishment, if not for the women working for them. Employing theories of embodiment, sexuality, and an archaeology of the senses, this study of the Endicott Street collection contributes a new methodological and theoretical framework for studying the archaeology of prostitution across time, space, and culture. The material culture recovered from brothel sites allows exploration of both the semi-private, "behind the scenes" narrative of sex work, as well as the semi-public, eroticised "performance space" where patrons were entertained. Few books on the archaeology of sex work exist and this volume will both provide an updated perspective on the history of sex work in Boston in the nineteenth century as well as tie advances in gender and embodiment theories to a compelling case study.
The book is for students and scholars of historical archaeology, nineteenth-century urban America, and gender studies. Students studying feminist theory and archaeology of the senses will also be interested in the contents.
Author(s): Jade W. Luiz
Series: Archaeology of Gender and Sexuality
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 172
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Tables
Acknowledgments
1. A Quiet House: An Introduction
Development of the Archaeology of Prostitution
The Brothel at 27-29 Endicott Street
Theoretical Approaches to Understanding the Brothel at 27/29 Endicott Street
Theoretical Approaches: Sexuality and Embodiment
Theoretical Approaches: Archaeology of the Senses
Theoretical Approaches: The Archaeology of Violence
Goals of this work
Notes
2. The "Social Evil" in the City On a Hill: Boston, Massachusetts, and Prostitution in the Nineteenth Century
Boston in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Boston During the Civil War
The Political Influence of Irish Immigrants in Boston
Black Bostonians in the Nineteenth-Century
The Evolution of the Permissibility of Sex Work in Boston
Boston's Nineteenth-Century Red Light District
Notes
3. Finely Dressed and Very Accomplished: Identity, Sexuality, and Race in Nineteenth-Century Sex Work
The Embodied Experience of Dress and Adornment
Notes
4. "The Common Enemy of the Family": Sex Work and the Inversion of the Nineteenth-Century Family
Preservation of Health, the Avoidance of Motherhood, and the Inevitable Failure of Both
Family Life and the 27/29 Endicott Street Brothel: Two Case Studies
Louisa Cowen
The Padelfords
Questioning the Narrative of Destitution and Abandonment
Notes
5. "It Is the Devil's Business": Acceptable Labor, Clandestine Labor, and Sex Work
Sex Work as Labor in the Nineteenth-Century
Miss Adams' Short Run
Louisa Cowan: 27/29 Endicott Street's Second Madam
Mary Lake
The Closure and Filling of the Endicott Street Privy
The Brothel Interior and the Prostitute Body as Sites of Sexual Labor
Notes
6. Cultivated Bodies, Cultivated Spaces: Control, Manipulation, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Sex Work
Sex Worker Violence in Nineteenth-Century Boston
Respectability and the Evasion of Law Enforcement on Endicott Street
Dressing the Set of the 27/29 Endicott Brothel
Communal Dining at 27/29 Endicott Street
Notes
7. Conclusion: Why Should We Care About the Lives of Nineteenth-Century Sex Workers?
Main Camps of Sex Work Activism
American Federal and Local Responses to Sex Work
Journey's End
Notes
Bibliography
Index
