,
Salon at the Rue des Moulins, 1894 The earliest recorded mention of prostitution as an occupation appears in Sumerian records from and describes a temple-bordello operated by
Sumerian priests in the city of
Uruk. The 'kakum' or temple was dedicated to the goddess
Ishtar and housed three classes of women. The first group performed only in the temple sex-rites; the second group had the run of the grounds and catered to its visitors as well, and the third and lowest class lived on the temple grounds but were free to seek out customers in the streets. In later years,
sacred prostitution and similar classifications of women existed in Greece, Rome, India, China, and Japan.
Europe State brothels/bordellos with regulated prices existed in ancient
Athens, created by the legendary lawmaker
Solon. These brothels catered to a predominantly male clientele, with women of all ages and young men providing sexual services (see
Prostitution in ancient Greece). In ancient Rome female slaves were forced to provide sexual services for soldiers, with brothels being located close to barracks and city walls. Brothels existed everywhere. The custom was to display lit candles to signal that they were open. Before the appearance of effective
contraception,
infanticide was common in brothels. Unlike usual infanticide—where girls were more likely to be killed at birth— a brothel site at Ashkelon in Israel revealed that nearly all of the babies were boys. , 1537;
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Cities first began setting up municipal brothels between 1350 and 1450 CE. Municipalities often owned, operated, and regulated the legal brothels. Governments would designate certain streets where a keeper could open a brothel. These sections of town were the precursors to so-called "red light districts". Not only did the towns restrict where a keeper could open a brothel, but they also put constraints on when the brothel could be open. For example, most brothels were forbidden to be open on Sundays and religious holidays. Some scholars believe these restrictions were enforced to make the prostitutes go to church but others argue that it was to keep parishioners in church and out of the brothels. Either way, it was a day providing no revenue for the keeper. Although brothels were set up as a sexual outlet for men, not all men were allowed to enter them. Clerics, married men, and Jews were prohibited. Often, foreigners such as sailors and traders were the main source of revenue. Local men who frequented the brothels were mainly single; laws restricting the patrons were not always enforced. Government officials or police would periodically search the brothels to reduce the number of prohibited customers. However, since the government was so closely related to the church, common punishments were minor. These restrictions were put in place to protect the wives of married men from infections. '' by
William Hogarth, 1735 Multiple restrictions were placed on the residents of brothels. One limitation prohibited prostitutes from borrowing money from their brothel keeper. Prostitutes paid high prices to the brothel keeper for the basic necessities of room and board, clothes, and toiletries. Room and board pricing was often set by the local government but the price for everything else could add up to a common woman's entire earnings. Prostitutes were sometimes prohibited from having a special lover. Some regulations put on prostitutes were made to protect their clients. A woman was kicked out if she was found to have a sexually transmitted disease. The prostitutes were not allowed to pull men into the brothel by their clothing, harass them in the street, or detain them over unpaid debts. Clothing worn by prostitutes was regulated and had to be distinguishable from that of respectable women. In some places, a prostitute had to have a yellow stripe on her clothing while in others red was the differentiating color. Other towns required harlots to don special headdresses or restricted the wardrobe of proper women. The restrictions placed on prostitutes were put in place not only to protect them but also nearby citizens. Because of a
syphilis epidemic throughout Europe, many brothels were shut down during the end of the Middle Ages. This epidemic had been brought on by Spanish and French military pillages after the return of Christopher Columbus from the newly discovered Americas. The church and citizens alike feared that men who frequented brothels would bring the disease home and infect morally upright people. From the 12th century, brothels in London were located in a district known as the
Liberty of the Clink. This area was traditionally under the authority of the
Bishop of Winchester, not the civil authorities. From 1161, the bishop was granted the power to license prostitutes and brothels in the district. This gave rise to the slang term
Winchester Goose for a prostitute. Women who worked in these brothels were denied Christian burial and buried in the unconsecrated graveyard known as
Cross Bones. , Rome, 1939. , Italy, 1945 By the 16th century, the area was also home to many theatres, (including the
Globe Theatre, associated with
William Shakespeare), but brothels continued to thrive. A famous London brothel of the time was
''Holland's Leaguer. Patrons supposedly included
James I of England and his favourite,
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It was located in a street that still bears its name and also inspired the 1631 play,
Holland's Leaguer''.
Charles I of England licensed a number of brothels including the
Silver Cross Tavern in London, which retains its license to the modern day because it was never revoked. The authorities of Medieval Paris followed the same path as those in London and attempted to confine prostitution to a particular district.
Louis IX (1226–1270) designated nine streets in the
Beaubourg Quartier where it would be permitted. In the early part of the 19th century, state-controlled legal brothels (then known as "
maisons de tolérance" or "
maisons closes") started to appear in several French cities. By law, they had to be run by a woman (typically a former prostitute) and their external appearance had to be discreet. The
maisons were required to light a red lantern when they were open (from which is derived the term
red-light district) and the prostitutes were only permitted to leave the
maisons on certain days and only if accompanied by its head. By 1810, Paris alone had 180 officially approved brothels. During the first half of the 20th century, some Paris brothels, such as
le Chabanais and
le Sphinx, were internationally known for the luxury they provided. The French government sometimes included a visit to the
Chabanais as part of the program for foreign guests of state, disguising it as a
visit with the President of the Senate in the official program. The
Hotel Marigny, established in 1917 in the
2nd arrondissement of Paris, was one of several that were well known for catering to gay male clients. Premises suspected of being gay brothels, including the Hotel Marigny were, however, subject to frequent police raids, perhaps indicating less tolerance for them from the authorities. , which served as an illegal brothel in addition to hotel operations. Today, the house is only in residential use. In most European countries, brothels were made illegal after World War II. France outlawed brothels in 1946, after a campaign by
Marthe Richard. The backlash against them was in part due to their wartime collaboration with the Germans during the
occupation of France. Twenty-two Paris brothels had been commandeered by the Germans for their exclusive use; some had made a great deal of money by catering for German officers and soldiers. One brothel in the
Montmartre District of the French capital was part of an escape network for
POWs and downed airmen. Italy made brothels illegal in 1959. The 2010s decade has seen the introduction of
sex dolls and
sexbots on the premises of some brothels.
East Asia Prostitution has existed in ancient China, but it was the politician
Guan Zhong (管仲) who planned the brothel system. During the
Spring and Autumn period in 645 BC, Qi politician Guan Zhong proposed to set up brothels in the city, and the operation of brothels was officially approved. As many as 700 women were entered into the brothels to work as prostitutes. Guan Zhong named this kind of brothel "Nvlv (女闾)". Most prostitutes in ancient China came from very poor families and were sold to brothels by their families to work as prostitutes. Prostitutes may also be asked by their families to engage in prostitution secretly outside brothels. Some girls are brought to brothels as children begging. There are also women who are resold to brothels by their husbands or lured to brothels by traffickers. The living conditions of prostitutes are not good, but the living conditions of prostitutes in high-end brothels are better than those in low-end brothels. Prostitutes in high-end brothels sell sex to wealthy and educated clients, so some prostitutes will learn some art-related content. However, high-end brothels are still places of prostitution, and prostitutes will still have to take prostitution as their main job. Their performances have a lot of pornographic content, and performances are not a professional field. In ancient China, brothels had different names, and each dynasty may have different names. There were also singing and dancing places in ancient China. These singing and dancing places also had different names, and the names also changed in different dynasties. Song and dance venues in ancient China were not brothels.
Gējì were professional female song and dance performers, they were not prostitutes, as most Geji did not engage in prostitution. Geji in ancient China catered to famous
poets and nobles. In addition to performing songs and dances, they would also have these men talk about
poetry and have pleasant conversations. Prostitution was rarely found, but they would also develop romantic relationships with these men. This Geji culture in ancient China died out systematically during the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. Male prostitution also existed in ancient China; open male brothels generally appeared in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and such male brothels were officially similar to semi-open in ancient times. Male prostitutes in male brothels will also learn some arts, but like prostitutes, they are not professional performers. Male prostitutes learn arts to increase the price of prostitution, and their job content is to engage in prostitution. Male performers who are not involved in prostitution are often reluctant to associate with such male prostitutes and openly distance themselves from them. The number of male brothels and male prostitutes is far less than that of female ones, but male brothels only sell sex to wealthy male clients. During the Republic of China, due to social unrest and other problems, there were a large number of brothels and prostitutes in China. After the founding of New China, brothels were closed and prostitution and whoring were made illegal. New China treated prostitutes for sexually transmitted diseases, provided psychological counseling, taught them work skills, and arranged legitimate jobs for them to change careers. were legal
red-light districts in
Japanese history, where both brothels and
prostitutes, known collectively as yūjo(遊女), the higher ranks of which were known as
oiran recognised by the Japanese government operated. Though prostitution was, officially, legal to engage in and pay for only in these areas, there were a number of places where prostitutes and brothels operated illegally. Yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 18th century, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. Many were typically indentured to their brothel; if indentured by their parents, a larger advance payment would often be received. Though contracts of indenture often did not last more than five to ten years, the debt sometimes accrued by these women could keep them working there for much longer. Many women also died of sexually transmitted diseases, or following failed abortions, before completing their contracts. in Japan, , taken by
Kusakabe Kimbei The Yinjian teahouse (阴间茶室) refers to a male brothel that provided same-sex sexual services to men during the Edo period in Japan. Male prostitutes in brothels mainly serve male customers, but occasionally there are a few female customers. Male prostitutes in male brothels are generally between 13 and 20 years old. In Japanese history, many geishas were not prostitutes, and geisha houses were different from brothels. The
geisha of Japan emphasized good table manners, artistic skills, elegant styling, and sophisticated, tactical conversational skills. In
Korean history, there were brothels where prostitutes engaged in prostitution. There are also
kisaeng performing arts venues that provide performances.
India The governments of many Indian
princely states had regulated
prostitution in India prior to the 1860s. The
British Raj enacted the
Cantonment Act of 1864 to regulate
prostitution in colonial India as a matter of accepting a necessary evil so that the British soldiers could seek sexual gratification when away from their homes. The Cantonment Acts regulated and structured prostitution in the British
military bases which provided for about twelve to fifteen Indian women kept in brothels called
chaklas for each regiment of thousand British soldiers. They were licensed by military officials and were allowed to consort with soldiers only. Brothels in India came into life in the early 1920s, when dance styles in states like
Maharashtra, such as
Lavani, and dance-drama performance artists,
called Tamasha artists, started working as prostitutes. Such professions were strongly connected to caste and income levels. Brothels were outlawed in France in 1946; but the
French Foreign Legion continued to use mobile brothels until the late 1990s. During the
Second World War, women drawn from throughout the Far East were forced into
sexual slavery by the occupation armies of
Imperial Japan in brothels known as
Ianjo. These women were referred to as "
comfort women". During the Second World War in Europe,
Nazi Germany created military brothels where an estimated 34,140 enslaved women from Nazi-occupied Europe, particularly Poland, were forced to work as prostitutes in brothels. After the
Japanese surrender following the Second World War, the Japanese government formed the
Recreation and Amusement Association and recruited 55,000 of its "patriotic women" to "sacrifice themselves" to the
G.I. occupation, to protect the chastity of pure Japanese womenfolk. In South Korea, women who worked as prostitutes for UN forces were called
Western princesses. Between the 1950s and 1960s, 60% of
South Korean prostitutes worked near the US military bases. Since the mid-1990s,
Filipina women have worked as prostitutes for U.S. servicemen in South Korea. In 2010, the
Philippine government stopped approving contracts that promoters use to bring Filipinas to South Korea to work near U.S. military bases. Au camp d'Arbalou l'Arbi Le B.M.C. Bordel Militaire de Campagne -1922 Edit Legraverand, phot, Meknès.jpg|A
bordel militaire de campagne in Morocco in the 1920s Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-1019-07, Frankreich, Brest, Soldatenbordell.jpg|German soldiers entering a
Soldatenbordell in
Brest, France (1940). The building is a former synagogue. Yasuura House.jpg|U.S. servicemen entering
Recreation and Amusement Association during the
occupation of Japan ==Sex doll brothel==