The Beast With Two Backs
By Isabel Armstrong, Third Year History
Content Warning: This article contains discussions of sexual violence.
During the late Renaissance period, many Italian city-states formally institutionalised the practice of sex work, moving away from the aggressive measures of punishment used to curb the crime during the medieval period. Sex work was semi-professionalised as various northern states introduced licenses, fees, or built brothels to facilitate ‘correct’ sex acts by participants.
The writings of St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas were particularly influential here, as they argued that the ‘lesser evil’ of prostitution should be tolerated to avoid the damage which was inflicted without it. By permitting men to fulfil their sexual desires legally, they would theoretically be prevented from greater transgressions, such as adultery, sodomy, or rape, which threatened the reputation of noble, virginal women.
Where sex workers were frequently purged from city limits, particularly during times of plague or social unrest, the institutionalisation of sex work led to the creation of specific areas wherein they were allowed to ply their trade. In Venice, this physical ostracisation was particularly pertinent, as sex workers were condemned to stand apart from upstanding citizens when attending church services. Public spaces were areas of specific tension in the Renaissance period, this being the period that the first ghetto was created in Venice.
A depiction of a courtesan entertaining a suitor. Image Credit: Mores Italiae, Yale University Library.
The manner in which women interacted with public spaces was highly influenced by their class status. Elite women never travelled alone, and rarely far, moving into carriages in the later Renaissance period, but this was often untenable for lower-class women, who had no such wealth to safeguard them as they moved across the city. Sex work offered a specific transgression by women streetwalking, or living and working in brothel areas, into the masculine-coded public spaces of the Italian city, although these laws made no attempt at protecting their safety.
The creation of these ‘brothel areas’ coincided with the introduction of various morality police, who attempted to safeguard the chastity of the civilian population; the “Officers of the Night” arrested sodomites, and the “Onestà” brought women failing to operate sex work under the correct licenses to justice. The Onestà was particularly key in serving as a male surrogate of control over women who were perceived to be thwarting their husband’s authority (although there are many recorded instances of husbands pimping out their wives) by conducting sex work.
Another motivation for attempting to confine sex work to specific areas was the reduced cost in policing the streets, as brothels and inns often resulted in civic disruption from patrons, or women plying their trade. The success of these geographical policies was limited, with some women being unable or unwilling to pay the fees to rent rooms, and others whose clientele would have been affected by the physical confinement.
Sumptuary legislation was a useful source of revenue in the Italian city states that had enriched themselves through the merchant classes. These laws also reinforced social hierarchies that kept the patrician classes in power, by reinforcing the negative status of those who could not afford to pay licenses to wear pearls or other jewellery. These laws were often highly gendered, specifically aimed at curbing female frivolities and excesses, although men were just as preoccupied with their physical appearance and clothing.
The idea that outward appearance was intertwined with social status was particularly important as courtesans, the sex workers who catered to a specifically Renaissance male fantasy of a woman that could provide both intellectual and sexual comforts, had begun dressing like patrician women. This was problematic for noble women, who might have had their virtue questioned in public areas, and indeed, these laws were successfully implemented. Veronica Franco, a famous courtesan in Venice, was taken to court for breaking the jewellery laws, and subsequently defended herself by presenting herself as a poet. The class impact of sumptuary laws divided sex workers, as those whose clientele included the male prosecutors of the city were protected from consequences of flauting them. Further, some cities implemented identification laws, requiring sex workers to wear bells or specific-coloured hoods.
Sex work is a particularly nuanced way by which historians can study marginalised communities. The changes experienced by sex workers during the Renaissance period are notable in this respect, as they frequently interacted with many levels of Italian society throughout their lifetimes.
Edited by Ben Bryant and Scarlett Bantin
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