Wolfenden's Women

This critical sourcebook compiles excerpts from the extensive interviewsundertaken by the Wolfenden Committee on the subject of prostitution. TheCommittee is remembered, first and foremost, for recommending thedecriminalization of sex between men. However, the other half of its remit-prostitution-has largely been forgotten, despite the fact that prostitution, nothomosexuality, was the original impetus behind the Committee's appointment. Ifwe consider the Committee and its Report from this perspective, its status asboth a liberal and permissive endeavour must be called into question.This book captures the controversy, diversity and complexity of opinionssurrounding prostitution in this period, and provides critical analysis and context.It restores the question of prostitution to its central place in the history of Britain'sso-called progressive era and challenges the way that the Report and its legacyhave been characterized. Crucially, this book highlights the substantial evidencegathered by the Committee on prostitution outside of London, which theWolfenden Report itself largely disregarded. The excerpts, the reprinted report,and the critical introductions to each chapter are intended to spark importantdebates amongst students, researchers and the public about the history ofsexuality, society and the state in twentieth-century Britain.