In this blog post, i will continue my research into 1920's society and radical women through my research mood-board, exploring key sources.
I have now completed my 'Guardian Articles' set of introductory research, as shown below:
Sex work in 1920's Western Society
The next section of research shall be on 'Sex Workers and the contemporary prostitute' in 1920's culture, specifically through art and as a continuation of Victorian standards for women.
I began my research by exploring 'The Weimar Years: A Culture cut Short' by John Willett, specifically beginning at 'The Culture of Cities' (pg. 110-143)
Notes:
1
"Golden girls like Marlene Dietrich and Lilian Harvey ..."
Pg. 110. These names could be useful for further research
2
"A thin but brilliant crust which hid the sad realities to come"
Pg. 110. Willett on Weimar culture
3. Pg. 111. Weimar culture is spread across the country - not simply within Berlin but Dresden, Munich, etc. "Weimar culture was a culture of city dwellers". Famous artists such as Brecht even eventually gravitated towards depicting "Mankind's rush into the great cities"
4. "Asphalt Literature" Something to note perhaps when researching Weimar culture
5. Pg. 112. Titled: The City Streets
The text shows three works of art depicting trios of women, who "Represent Urban Womanhood".
One is a segment of a piece by Rudolf Schlichter, wherein 'Passers-by' "Lurk - presumably for men."
(SCAN ME HERE)
Another is 'Three Prostitutes on the Street' (1925), by Otto Dix (German Expressionist painter), who according to Willett "Appear to be hurrying, each on a different errand". The lack of classically idealised features for these women, the gaunt cheeks and wrinkled visage of the central figure for example, emphasises the artist's revulsion toward the sensibilities of these women and what they represent. The single bra-strap falling from her lumped shoudlder further emphasises the scandalous nature of urban prostitution, yet it is shown to be a cemented part of Weimar culture by the risque heeled foot advertisement set into the shopping district windows behind them. It is this duality of scorn and need that i find particularly interesting.
the final trio depicted is within Karl Hubbuch's 'In the Dance Hall' (1925), wherein three women sit and stare at the dancing scene in tandem, "Unaffected by commercial rivalry" [Commercial referring to sex-work clients in this case].
(SCAN ME HERE)
"Such images of prostitution are frequently associated with German life in the 1920's ... particularly life in the capital, which we still think of as a centre of sexual license".
6. Pg. 113. It is important to note that a police presence and censorship were still present in Weimar art and depictions of sex work, as seen in the censorship of John Heartfield's 'Eros and Espionage in the Ghent Centre' photo-jacket montage was censored due to the positioning of a woman's up-skirt crotch and "Under threat of prosecution ...".
(SCAN ME HERE)
7. Pg. 138. Though not necessarily related to the sex-work scene of contemporary Weimar, Willett's brief focus on The Campaign for Legal Abortion of course has crossover and falls neatly into the package of 'Feminist Radicalism in the 1920s'. The text highlights a rejection of paragraph 218 through protests, newspapers, and artwork. A film played as a form of protest was 'Cyanide in Spring', echoing themes of suicide and despair due to the Prussian anti-abortion law.
(SCAN ME HERE)
Overall, this was an excellent read for exploring 1920's Weimar culture and prostitution as a stepping-stone to greater 1920's society. I will look further into more specified texts surrounding contemporary sex workers following this.
The next text I am interested in is: Prostitution, the Alien Woman and the Progressive Imagination, 1910–1915 (degruyter.com). I am in the process of gaining access to this article physically.
The next text I wanted to explore was: In Search of "The Real Thing": Ideologies of Love, Modern Romance, and Women's Sexual Subjectivity in the United States, 1920-40 on JSTOR.
I used 'Scholarchy', an accessibility tool, to summarise the key points, words and quotes of the article in a manner I could understand easier.
This text discussed how women across Maryland and the United States in general had an air of promiscuity in the 1920's -- and "Like[d] to have a good time". The rabbithole from experimental parties to the red-light district was observed to be fairly common, once bartering sex for "A can of beer" or ice-cream would "Drift quickly into prostitution". These young, often white and middle-class women would be labelled 'Charity Girls', a term that whitewashed and feathered around-the-edges prostitution to something more socially palatable.
This "Demi-prostitution" would eventually evolve into a cultural phenomenon that echoes even in the modern age; one of 'Sex for dinner' at dates. "If a girl has to pay her own way on a date, she may as well go alone," became the mantra of the 1940's city-girl. This, however, is not viewed as a form of social prostitution. It is vital to note the importance of class disparity within sex work in the early 20th century- on one hand, working-class women carried forth the tradition of European seamstresses and barmaids in the 19th century and solicited men in order to survive in a world with little economical prospects. On the other hand, 'Charity Girls' of the more financially-affluent Americas are noted in this text to substitute sex work for social favours and items of luxury. This contrast in societal expectations of sex workers is something that could be further discussed in my long-form essay.
" Advocates of anti-Victorian sensuality explicitly championed eradication of the sexual double standard that had denied women their desires"
The text notes that "women regained their sexual desires with modernity", something I had previously discussed in my Guardian articles research. This goes hand in hand with the right to vote being given to women between the late 1910's to early 1920's depending on country, something which no doubt incited a push for freedom in other aspects of women's daily lives.
There is also the discussion of women becoming slaves to the Freudian idea of psychosexuality: "[The theory] granted women freedoms to seek fulfilment but only within the boundaries of their sexuality." (Howard Gadlin). Furthermore, Lilliam Faderman discusses the entrapment of female sexuality in her study of Lesbianism: "the sex drive was identified perhaps for the first time in history, as being the foremost instinct-in women as well as men-inescapable and all but uncontrollable." Women began to be at both times belittled for outward sexual liberation, and for their "unconscious" sexual 'personalities'.
This article was useful for 'flipping the coin', and observing responses / depictions of prostitution from the other side of the Atlantic, wherein in many cases it was classed as a frivolity rather than a necessity for survival. Nonetheless, women from both Europe and the Americas would continue to act as exploited tools to fulfil male sexual desires.
My next tasks are to:
- Gain access to Prostitution, the Alien Woman and the Progressive Imagination, 1910–1915 (degruyter.com).
- Complete my sections on the Fallen Woman link
- Complete my sections on depictions of prostitution in Kirchner and Dix's work.
Below is the 'Sex workers and the contemporary prostitute' mood-board as it currently stands:
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