Introduction - Streetwalking Then and Now

Streetwalking is a form of prostitution where sex is solicited in a common place. Because of the visibility of streetwalking, streetwalkers often become the public face of prostitution and are prime targets for harassment, violence, arrest, and media stigma. Streetwalking is often portrayed as the image of abjection, but in some contexts streetwalking allows people more control over their lives and work. On the streets, there is more opportunity for prostitutes to be their own bosses and keep the money they make.

This exhibit situates contemporary streetwalking in the United States and Europe via a comparison of prostitution in 1830s Paris to move beyond traditional conceptions of streetwalking prostitution and demonstrate how streetwalkers through the years have asserted a presence in public spaces and taken control of their bodily autonomy. This exhibit explores the multitude of experiences of streetwalkers -- both past and present -- and examines the ways in which they assert varying levels of autonomy throughout their work.

The choice to focus on 1830s Paris to gain an understanding of streetwalking is an intentional one. During the early 19th century, the Parisian government set out to sanitize their city, both literally and morally. This is most clearly evidenced by the Prefecture of Police of Paris, who regarded prostitution as a vehicle capable of flushing society of its moral ills. Consequently, the Prefecture of Police allowed prostitution to remain legal so long as it was heavily regulated and kept indoors.

This exhibit is grounded in the findings of Alexandre Parent-Duchâtelet as expressed in his work On Prostitution in the City of Paris. Parent-Duchâtelet was a leading expert in sewage and waste disposal and took interest in prostitution as it existed in Paris at the time. Although he was more likely than most to pity streetwalkers, his parallel interests in waste and prostitution betray an unsaid but clear comparison between two things that needed to be regulated and kept out of public space. Parent-Duchâtelet had many different names for streetwalkers but tellingly refers to them as filles insoumises or “unsubmissive women”. [1] Another common term was filles isolées, or “isolated women”, describing those who chose to work outside of the brothels, and instead worked on the streets.

As Alain Corbin writes, “...Parent-Duchâtelet throws himself into a very precise description of the filles en numéro, the filles en carte, the filles à soldats,the filles de barrière as ‘streetwalkers’ who operate only in the shadows and whose shamelessness ought to make them ‘unworthy to put on the registers of prostitution.’” [2] While most streetwalkers did not register as prostitutes, those who did were referred to as filles en carte. Still, they were often grouped with the filles insoumises who were not registered.  Streetwalkers fell under the category of pierreuses; this refers to the stones or rocks on which they had sex with their clients. Throughout Parent-Duchâtelet’s On Prostitution, he uses these many names to describe and comment on the women engaging in this illegal work. Overall, filles insoumises refused to be regulated and confined, acting as both symbols of unruliness and sources of frustration for the Prefecture of Police. Parent-Duchâtelet sometimes refers to their work as la prostitution clandestine, illicit prostitution.

By exploring alternative epistemologies through diverse media, this exhibit challenges Parent-Duchâtelet’s narrow portrayal of streetwalkers in the 1830s. To do so, this exhibit examines archived material from the era of the French July Monarchy (1830 to 1848) when prostitution was first regulated in modern Europe, and thus identifies the levels of agency and professionalism that existed among streetwalkers during this historical moment. 

While streetwalking originated on the streets (hence the name) and many prostitutes continue to solicit from the streets, today, some streetwalkers have moved their solicitation online. Although streetwalkers comprise only 10-20% of all prostitutes in the United States, their visibility positions them as easy targets for stigma, violence, and arrest. 90% of people arrested for prostitution are streetwalkers. [3][4]

Streetwalkers are distinguished from other forms of prostitution because they are not connected with brothels, do not solicit on sugar baby websites, solicit more publically and have a different clientele than escorts, and do not perform in strip clubs.

Streetwalkers blur the distinction between the public and private realms: they bring sex -- considered the most private form of human interaction by normative social mores -- to the visible public. While most streetwalkers solicit sex from outdoor spaces, because of the illicit nature of prostitution, streetwalkers often must engage with their clientele behind the closed doors of cars, motel rooms, or back alleys.

Streetwalking is the most dangerous form of prostitution.[4] Many choose to enter into streetwalking as a solution to unemployment or unstable employment, or as a supplement to low-paying jobs.[5] Drug and alcohol addiction is also often a driver behind the choice to engage in street prostitution. [6] Common perceptions of streetwalkers often portray them as underage women who have run away from home and are soliciting sex because they have no other choice, or, as scared, trafficked foreigners who have no resources or legibility. In reality, streetwalkers have a range of experiences and lifestyles, including reasons for and frequency of selling sex, sexual and mental health status, homelessness status, substance use, and gender of partner. [7]

If this work is so dangerous why do people choose to engage in it? Working on the streets can give prostitutes more autonomy, as they are not confined to brothels or strip clubs.  Only 40% of street prostitutes work with a pimp, while the rest solicit sex independently. [3] Most streetwalkers have control over their labor and find the flexibility of streetwalking appealing for any of myriad reasons, explored in the Choosing Streetwalking section of this exhibit. To learn more about working with pimps or madams, visit the Pimps & Madams exhibit.

This exhibit explores diverse facets of street prostitution, including streetwalking in the digital era, male and trans street prostitution, harm reduction strategies for street prostitutes, reasons for choosing streetwalking, and media representations of streetwalking -- both contemporary and from the July Monarchy: 1830-1848 in Paris.