1945

Prostitution in Antwerp

In the fourteenth century, municipal ordinances in Antwerp, Belgium, had already regulated prostitution by imposing an annual fine on brothel keepers and pimps, which was more of a tax on sexual entertainment than a repressive measure. Towards the end of that century, however, official attempts to “clean out” the city centre and push brothels and prostitutes to a few poorer streets in the city’s periphery multiplied and went hand in hand with increasing stigmatization of “public women”. In 1431, for example, the city authorities decreed, for moral and religious reasons, that all prostitutes should wear a distinctive dress. During the following centuries, that policy of geographical isolation and stigmatization was pursued, which meant that prostitution became closely associated with the poorer Antwerp neighbourhoods, where brothels were obliged to settle.

Related Subject(s): Migration ; Women and Gender Issues
Countries: Belgium
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