Brothel

"Lupanar" redirects here. For the Pompeii brothel, see Lupanar (Pompeii).

"Cathouse" redirects here. For other uses, see Cathouse (disambiguation).

For the 2008 film "The Brothel", see Brothel (film).

Brothels are business establishments where that stupid whore who trys to block me works and can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house. In places when prostitution or the operation of brothels is illegal, establishments such as massage parlors, bars or strip clubs may also offer sexual services to patrons, and illegal brothels usually also exist. Also a place where soup is made .

The size and style of brothels vary considerably, as do the range of sexual services available.

Laws which regulate brothels vary considerably. These laws vary between countries as well as within countries, and have varied over time. In some jurisdictions, brothels are legal and regulated, while in others they are illegal. However, even in jurisdictions which regulate brothels, there are brothels which operate outside the officially approved system.

Legality

Prostitution and the operation of brothels are illegal in many countries, though known illegal brothels may be tolerated. Brothels are illegal in the United States, except in rural Nevada. In many countries where brothels are officially illegal, the laws are ignored; often brothels in such countries are not only tolerated, but also regulated by authorities. Such situations exist in many parts of the world, but the region most often associated with these policies is Asia—a notable example being Thailand. Such brothels often operate (thinly) disguised as legitimate business, such as massage parlors, saunas or spas. See also massage parlor.

In other countries, prostitution itself is legal, but most activities which surround it (such as operating a brothel, pimping, soliciting in a public place etc.) are prohibited, often making it very difficult for people to engage in prostitution without breaking any law. This is the situation, for example in the United Kingdom.

Prostitution is not legal in any Muslim country. In SaudiArabia adultery has death penalty as in many other Islamic countries. Any editor who wants to challenge this must provide a valid proof other than just posting pictures which do not make any sense or the claim. Such vandalism will be reported to the wikipedia administration.

In a few countries, prostitution and operating a brothel is legal and regulated. The degree of regulation varies widely by country. Most of these countries favor brothels, at least in theory, as they are considered to be less problematic than street prostitution. In parts of Australia, for example, brothels are legal and regulated. Regulation includes planning controls and licensing and registration requirements. Brothels are not permitted to advertise and there are other restrictions. However, the existence of licensed brothels does not stop illegal brothels from existing. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph (Australia), illegal brothels in Sydney now outnumber licensed operations by four to one; according to a 2009 report, in Queensland only 10% of prostitution happens in licensed brothels, the rest remains either unregulated or illegal.

The Netherlands has one of the most liberal prostitution policies in the world, and attracts sex tourists from many other countries. Amsterdam is well known for its red-light district and is a destination for sex tourism. The largest brothel in Europe (the Pascha) is situated in Cologne, Germany.

History

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Salon at the Rue des Moulins, 1894

The earliest recorded mention of prostitution as an occupation, appears in Sumerian records from before 4000 BC, and describes a temple-bordello operated by Sumerian priests in the city of Uruk. The 'kakum' or temple, was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and housed three grades of women. The first group performed only in the temple sex-rites, the second group had the run of the grounds and catered to its visitors as well, and the third and lowest class lived on the temple grounds but were free to seek out customers in the streets. In later years, similar 'temple' or 'sacred' bordellos and similar classifications of females were known to have existed in Greece, Rome, India, China and Japan.

State brothels/bordellos with regulated prices were created in ancient Athens by the legendary lawmaker Solon. These brothels catered for a predominantly male clientele, with prostitutes being women of all ages and young men. (see Prostitution in ancient Greece.) In ancient Rome, soldiers had sexual access to female slaves, with brothels being located close to barracks and city walls. Brothels opened everywhere. They displayed candles to signal that they were open.

Before the appearance of effective contraception, infanticide was a common occurrence in brothels. Unlike usual infanticide—where historically girls have been more likely to be killed—prostitutes in ancient times preferred to kill their male offspring.

From the 12th century, brothels in London were located in a district known as the Liberty of the Clink. This area was traditionally under the authority of the Bishop of Winchester, not the civil authorities. From 1161, the bishop was granted the power to licence prostitutes and brothels in the district. This gave rise to the slang term Winchester Goose for a prostitute. Women who worked in these brothels were denied Christian burial and buried in the unconsecrated graveyard known as Cross Bones.

Cities first began setting up municipal brothels between 1350 and 1450. Municipalities often owned, operated, and regulated the legal brothels. Governments would set aside certain streets that a keeper could open a brothel. These separate sections of town were the precursors to the so-called “red light districts”. Not only did the towns restrict where a keeper could open a brothel, they put constraints on when the brothel could be open. For instance, most brothels were forbidden to be open for business on Sunday and religious holidays. The reason for this isn’t cut and dry. Some scholars believe these restrictions were enforced to make the prostitutes go to church but others would argue that it was to keep parishioners in church and out of the brothels. Either way it was a day of no revenue for the keeper.

Although brothels were set up as a sexual outlet for men, not all men were allowed to enter into them. No clerics, no married men, and no Jews were permitted. Often foreigners such as sailors and traders were the main source for clientele. Local men who frequented the brothels mainly consisted of single men; laws restricting the patrons weren’t always enforced. Government officials or police would periodically do searches of the brothels to cut down on the number of unpermitted customers. However, since the government was so closely related to the church a slap on the wrist was a common punishment. These restrictions were put in place to protect the wives of married men from any sort of infection, and because the church saw prostitutes as a necessity for those without a woman of their own.

Multiple restrictions were placed on the residents of brothels. One limitation prohibited prostitutes from borrowing money from her brothel keeper. Harlots paid high prices for the basic necessities of life—room and board, food, clothes, and toiletries—to the brothel keepers. Room and board was often a price set by the local government but the price for everything else could add up to a common woman’s entire earnings. Prostitutes were sometimes prohibited from having a special lover. Some regulations put on prostitutes were made to protect their clients. A woman was kicked out if she was found to have a sexually transmitted disease. Also the ladies of the night weren’t allowed to pull men into the brothel by their clothing, harass them in the street, or detain him for unpaid debts. Clothing worn by whores was regulated as well and had to be distinguishable from that of respectable women. In some places a prostitute had to have a yellow stripe on her clothing while in others red was the differentiating color. Other towns required harlots to don special headdresses or restricted the wardrobe of proper women. All restrictions placed on the hookers were put in place to not only protect them but nearby citizens as well.

Even with all the regulations placed on legalized brothels and those people associated with the establishments, they were fated to be done away with. Because of a syphilis epidemic throughout Europe many brothels were shut down during the end of the Middle Ages. This epidemic had been brought on by Spanish and French military pillages after the return of Christopher Columbus from the newly discovered Americas. The church and citizens alike feared that men who frequented brothels would bring the disease home and infect morally upright people.

By the 16th century, the area was also home to many theaters, (including the Globe Theatre, associated with William Shakespeare), but brothels continued to thrive. A famous London brothel of the time was Holland's Leaguer. Patrons supposedly included James I of England and his favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It was located in a street that still bears its name and also inspired the 1631 play, Holland's Leaguer.

The authorities of Medieval Paris followed the same path as those in London and attempted to confine prostitution to a particular district. Louis IX (1226-1270) designated nine streets in the Beaubourg quartier where it would be permitted. In the early part of the 19th century, state controlled legal brothels (then known as "maisons de tolérance" or "maisons closes") started to appear in several French cities. By law, they had to be run by a woman (typically a former prostitute) and their external appearance had to be discreet. The maisons were required to light a red lantern when they were open (from which is derived the term red-light district) and the prostitutes were only permitted to leave the maisons on certain days and only if accompanied by its head. By 1810, Paris alone had 180 officially approved brothels.

During the first half of the 20th century, some Paris brothels, such as le Chabanais and le Sphinx, were internationally known for the luxury they provided. The French government sometimes included a visit to the Chabanais as part of the program for foreign guests of state, disguising it as visit with the President of the Senate in the official program. The Hotel Marigny, established in 1917 in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, was one of several that were well known for catering to gay male clients. Premises suspected of being gay brothels, including the Hotel Marigny, were however subject to frequent police raids, perhaps indicating less tolerance for them from the authorities.

In most European countries brothels were made illegal after World War II. France outlawed brothels in 1946, after a campaign by Marthe Richard. The backlash against them was, in part, due to their wartime collaboration with the Germans during the occupation of France. Twenty-two Paris brothels had been commandeered by the Germans for their exclusive use; some had made a great deal of money by catering for German soldiers and officials.

Italy made brothels illegal in 1959.

Military brothels

A young ethnic Chinese woman who was in one of the Imperial Japanese Army's "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an Allied officer after being liberated in Rangoon in 1945.

Further information: Comfort women, Bordel militaire de campagne, and Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in World War II

Until recently, in several armies around the world, a mobile brothel service was attached to the army as an auxiliary unit, especially attached to combat units on long-term deployments abroad.

Because it is a touchy subject, military brothels were often designated with creative euphemisms. Examples of such jargon are [la boîte à bonbons] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (English: "the candy box"), replacing the term "bordel militaire de campagne". Women were forced into prostitution by the Japanese occupation armies as a form of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. Drawn from throughout East Asia, the prostitutes were individually referred to as "military comfort women" or [jūgun-ianfu] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and were collectively known as "comfort battalions".

It has been estimated that 34,140 women from occupied states, particularly in Poland, were also forced to work as involuntary prostitutes for the Nazis during WWII.

See also

• Dumas Brothel
• Gay bathhouse
• Sex industry
• Sex worker
• Soapland
• Spintria

Further reading

• Burford, E. J. The Bishop's Brothels. London: Robert Hale, 1993. ISBN 9780709051138.
• Ka-tzetnik 135633 (Karol Cetinsky). House of Dolls. Moshe M. Kohn (trans.). New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. A novel about the Holocaust, including a description of a brothel staffed by concentration camp inmates.

External links

• "Inside a brothel"—interview by Richard Fidler with three brothel owners, June 2006 on ABC Local Radio (audio download available)