L’échange sexuel comme crime contagieux : politiques sanitaires et construction de la déviance féminine au Royaume-Uni (XIXe siècle)

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, the British Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866, 1869) were a response to the growing concern about the spread of venereal disease in the United Kingdom. Challenged for their controversial application, including mandatory medical examinations and periods of forced confinement, this article questions the gender and class inequalities at the heart of the social and spatial segregation regime. The hypothesis is that the system of surveillance, control and confinement established by the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Acts contributed to an economy of contagion based on the hypervisibility of prostitutes' sexuality and their invisibility.

Keywords

• prostitution
• sexuality
• deviance
• United Kingdom
• women
• Contagious Diseases Acts