The Devil’s Chain

This original and far-reaching study is that rare thing, more than its title promises. The ‘story’ of prostitution, as told here through a dissection of its social and political aspects, amounts to a new take on Poland’s evolving national narrative in the years shortly before, and just after, independence was regained in 1918. That Poland was partitioned by three imperial overlords for more than a century complicates the picture, but by carefully unpicking social attitudes and legislative differences across the territories in question, Keely Stauter-Halsted is able to draw wider conclusions. From the outset, the nexus of prostitution with concerns about the ‘national body’ was established, while commentators increasingly couched their responses to the question in terms of Poland’s own health, future prospects and viability. Thus, we learn about the local vagaries of prostitution as a practice, but also how, in an era where would-be reformers struggled against both imperial regulators and an enduringly conservative, idealised image of Polish womanhood, the terms of this struggle in fact shaped much wider legacies in Poland. These include attitudes towards gender and sexuality, and the lasting effects of partition, which continue to resonate in the present

Art · Human sexuality · Independence (probability theory · Legislature · Literature · Narrative · Nexus (standard · Partition (number theory · Political science · Politics · Sociology · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law