Contextualizing Historical Moments of Selling Sex

Midterm 30%

(750-900 words) Students will be given three short essay prompts and asked to choose one. Prompts will be distributed at the beginning of Week 3 and students will have one week to submit the exam online via Turnitin link on the course Moodle.

M133 Midterm Prompt – Summer 2022

Chose one of the following short essay prompts to address for the course midterm. Please identify which prompt you are addressing in your submission.

Timothy Gilfoyle emphasizes the importance of contextualizing historical moments of selling sex within a larger context of political, economic, and cultural histories (120). How does Gilfoyle demonstrate the significance of such a perspective? What impact does the prescribed perspective have on research/the work produced? Use 2 or more examples from the text(s)/lecture as evidence. Must use at least 2 different in-class sources.

Prompt Two

In his review of the historical literature on prostitution, Gilfoyle notes how prostitution is ultimately an economic response to “different patterns of accumulation and reinvestment” (126). How can we observe the centrality of economic motivation to sell sexual services in the historical studies of prostitution? Use 2 or more examples from text(s)/lecture as evidence. Must use at least 2 different in-class sources.

Prompt Three

Identify one key theme or topic from W1-W3 (examples include “policing of prostitution”, or “prostitution as both symbol of modernity AND lack of progress (Landeau, 36)”). Compare and contrast how this theme manifests in 2 different locations from the course. You may choose a historical period covered in the class (Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Regulationist France, etc.) or specific red-light districts (London, Yoshiwara, Storyville, NYC, Barbary Coast, etc.). Use 2 or more examples from the text(s)/lecture as evidence. Must use at least 2 different in-class sources.