Author: Clare Burgess, Faculty of History, University of Oxford

Abstracts:
- »Early modern historians have often painted a bleak picture of sex work in early modern Europe, illustrating a life in prostitution with grim details. This chapter seeks to present a more complex view. Building on the work of scholars such as Mary Elizabeth Perry, but focusing specifically on sex workers' experiences of and reactions to violence, it provides a more nuanced perspective showing a spectrum of possible responses. This chapter focuses on the dynamic interplay between structure and agency to centre the ways in which the structure of early modern legislation and society impacted the complex considerations involved in sex workers' decisions to report, remain silent, or seek other options – and to do so without privileging the constraints of the early modern system as overwhelming, thus erasing individual choices, or giving an anachronistic, dismissive view of the struggles involved in these decisions. By doing so, we can develop a better understanding of how early modern society perceived the boundary between labour and sexuality, examining the contradiction inherent in legislating sex work as a necessary profession and simultaneously marginalising and pathologising those who worked in that profession. We can put sex work in the context of other marginalised forms of labour, particularly the gendered labour involved in reproduction, household tasks and emotional support, which often goes unrecognised, and consider how conceptions of gender roles and sexuality render some forms of labour distinct from others.« (Source: Taylor & Francis Online)

- »The first chapter, from Clare Burgess, takes us to sixteenth-century Spain to examine the options available to individuals selling sex who experienced violence in Seville. She addresses how they navigated reporting violence to the authorities, seeking extra-judicial methods, or remaining silent.« (Source: Phipps, Catherine. »Introduction.« Histories of Sex Work Around the World. Edited by Catherine Phipps. New York 2024: 6.)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 10)
	Involving the authorities: reporting violence (p. 16)
	Other forms of justice: extra-judicial measures (p. 19)
	The silent majority: remaining quiet (p. 20)
	Institutional violence – reform houses (p. 23)
	Conclusion (p. 26)
	Notes (p. 27)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Spain / Habsburg Spain | Prostitution: Prostitution in Spain | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape