La réglementation de la prostitution pendant l'entre-deux-guerres: l'exemple du Nord de la France

Announced as almost dead at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the system of regulation of prostitution was reinvigorated at the end of the First World War. This system saw its “swan song” between the two world wars before being abolished in 1946. Violently critiqued before the Second World War, it adapted and reinforced itself within a logic of hygienics while pretending to be concerned with the fundamental liberties of the relevant persons. Between the study of legal, theoretical, and ideological debates, the analysis of power relations of regulation authorities, the concrete implementation of this regulation along with its violation, and the prism of gender in the analysis of legal and judicial archives, this legal history thesis, strengthened by an interdisciplinary approach, shows that the stakes of control overtook the frame of “prostitution” to target sexuality in general with, as a lever, fear. [from author]