Sex Workers, But No Sex: Prostitutes, Notaries, and the Communities They Built an installment of Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns
Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns are opportunities for professors working in Medieval and Early Modern Studies to informally share their work through brief presentations followed by Q and A sessions. Professor Susan McDonough in History will lead our March session.
Sex Workers, But No Sex: Prostitutes, Notaries, and the Communities They Built
This presentation, with Professor Susan McDonough, brings together two Mediterranean institutions, legalized prostitution and the notariat, to explore how the region’s sex workers collaborated with notaries to establish their belonging within their communities. Despite the social stigma surrounding prostitution and legal limitations on prostitutes’ movements, prostitution was both legal and widespread in the Northern Mediterranean. Equally widespread was the use of notaries: people in the Northern Mediterranean relied on notaries to document their debts, procuratorships, business arrangements, and final wishes. Dr. McDonough will share some notarial documents from different Mediterranean archives and we can think together about what they suggest about sex workers’ enmeshment in their communities.
ID:
26229982017
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