William W. Sanger's "Prostitution in Hamburg"

Thesis: In Sanger’s Prostitution in Hamburg, the author provides a clear look at the regulated prostitution that occurs in the city of Hamburg. While he admits that prostitution is ultimately a bad thing, he also admits that the regulated brothels provide a means of communication between the women and the police and therefore avoids numerous problems common among the unregulated prostitutes.

I. Local Writer’s Defense of Prostitution

a. Brothels – a necessary evil

b. Worse sexual crimes (adultery, rape, infanticide, pederasty, or sodomy) are less common in Hamburg than in Paris

c. “Private prostitution” a much greater evil than the public, regulated brothels

d. while brothels spread disease, they are regulated by the government to prevent this spread while private prostitution is not

e. suppression is impossible

II. Public Brothels in Hamburg statistics

a. Bothels under special supervision and control by police

b. Food and general conditions are good

c. Drunkenness rare in the brothels

d. Prostitutes themselves are idle and uneducated

e. Religion rare

III. Public vs Private Brothels

a. Public women serve everyone, rarely in love

b. Private women frequently find lovers