Female Prostitution In Russia Essay

It is not uncommon to find that womyn are treated as less than human in the eyes of the law even if society considers them to be respected. A respected womon in most societies is married, conservatively dressed, devout in her husband’s religion, quiet, and has many sons. More often than not, prostitutes are seen as womyn without morals and are regarded as womyn who do not respect themselves. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Russian law saw female prostitutes as less than human and the Russian medical system saw them as epidemic hazards. Russian female prostitutes during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century were dehumanized in the legal and medical fields by the Russian government. In order to have a complete understanding of female prostitutes at the turn of that century, it is important to have a general understanding of womyn’s legal standings in Russia during this time period. Russia underwent legal transitions to eliminate the distinction between classes of people in the courts. Peasants were granted more rights under
the law. Prior to these changes peasant’s legal issues were tried in separate courts. The legal transition allowed peasants to be tried in regular courtrooms. Womyn however were still tried in the peasant courts. By placing womyn in this status, Russian womyn are dehumanized.
Russian law was updated in 1863 and more open guidelines were created for corporal punishment. Peasants were allowed to be beaten by the authorities instead of their masters. Womyn were also included in this part of the law. The initial idea appeared to put men and womyn on equal legal standing but that was not the reality. This law allowed husbands to use corporal punishment on their wives. This allows the husbands to be considered an extension of the law. This further establishes the notion that men own womyn and that womyn are seen as property of the state. Russian law differentiated between an honest womon and a “womon of the public” through the legal proceedings. In both of these cases, the law assumed that womyn were helpless and needed men to guide them. Prostitutes were supervised outside of the law and they were not considered to be violating the law. The law was only violated by the pimps. The womyn or men who utilized the prostitutes’ services were not in violation of the law either. Russian law and the state had different interests in the way prostitution was handled. The pimps were seen as being guilty in the opinion of the court and were the underlying problems according to the court. This legal standing creates a presumption that men are in control of their actions and womyn are not. The state viewed prostitution in a similar manner but the state decided that the regulation of these “womyn of the public” was their personal responsibility. When Russia underwent periodic legal changes, sex did not appear as often as other subjects. When it was discussed, the main subjects that were reviewed focused on rape, incest, prostitution, and other acts that were not regarded as intercourse. The definition of what sex was not gives us the definition of what sex was. Intercourse was seen as only for procreation and not for pleasure. It also assumed that womyn who were having sex were married and in monogamist relationships. In 1845, rape and prostitution were considered to be crimes for the first time in Russian history. They were considered to be more of a violation of morals at the time than legal problems. In 1903 these laws were changed to establish a more defined idea about what the state had control over. The code of 1903 placed sexual crimes as a public disorder. By placing female sexuality under a public disorder category, the law lost some of the control and the state gained more control over the prostitutes and womyn’s sexual endeavors. This creates the presumption that womyn’s sexuality needed to be controlled by the state. Prostitutes were more specifically under the control of the police because they were categorized under a noncriminal activity.
This is a complicated distinction to make. Pimps were prosecuted under the law because their actions were considered criminal activity. Most prostitutes were womyn and they were not given the same rights under the law which allowed the police to take control. The police decided that they would focus on the actions of prostitutes that occurred in public because they were not as harmful if they were in the privacy of a room. This created the distinction between the poor men and rich men that utilized the womyn’s services. The police did not want to reprimand the rich and it was easier to reprimand the poor. This policy effectively made prostitution illegal and the police began to enforce this. They even began to fine womyn who were demonstrating “provocative behavior” in
public.
Initially, the police were acting upon their moral dispositions that were opposed to sex outside of marriage. If goods, services, or money were involved, the police could intervene. Police officers could prove that prostitution was a crime. The transaction of money made prostitution a trade and therefore it could be regulated or stopped by the government. However, in 1903 the police needed more control over prostitutes, so the police made prostitutes register themselves in order to keep track of them. This made prostitution legal if the prostitute had a stamp of approval from the government, otherwise known as a yellow stamp. If a womon did not have a stamp, they would make her register herself immediately upon seeing the transaction of services. New regulations had to be made in order to keep the prostitutes within the state’s guidelines. In the code of 1903 it was decided that a womon could work in a brothel if she was twenty one years old. The legal age of consent at the time was fourteen. The state also said that womyn could not be forced to work in a brothel and it was illegal to force anyone to do so. In a not so surprising twist, the government decided to try to discourage womyn from participating in prostitution by publicly humiliating prostitutes. The government explained through psychological studies that womyn who willingly stayed in prostitution had a moral abnormality similar to people with mental disabilities.
There was also a hierarchy that was created when determining violations for prostitution for unwilling participants. These categories include children, wives, and single womon coerced by strangers, as well as people that kidnapped womyn for prostitution as a living. The pimps in these situations were tried harshly for violating the “innocence” of womyn. These laws exemplify the idea that womyn should be protected and are unable of protecting themselves. Part of the law indicates that it was a violation of someone’s property leading us to believe that womyn did not have much, if any, bodily autonomy. The inherent nature of these laws creates a precedent that womyn should be kept pure and untainted.