Medieval Sex Work:a State of the Field

Recent scholarship on medieval sex work is varied in its approach: scholars have tackled the thorny issue of identity and subjectivity, examined the economy of sex work, and sought to understand its moral place in medieval society. Despite these varied approaches, however, much of the scholarship continues to persist in othering, and even dehumanising, pre-modern sex workers. This can be seen in the titles of some of the books under review here: A Life of Ill Repute: Public Prostitution in the Middle Ages, or Same Bodies, Different Women: ‘Other’ Women in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, or Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature: The Dark Side of Sex and Love in the Premodern Era. All of these titles make explicit judgements about the subjects to be discussed: they had poor reputations, they were different from ‘normal’ women, and their work had a dark side.