Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 202-205. (Budapest, 2008)
TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - FORRAI, Judit: History of the politics of prostitution in Hungary (19-20th c.). - A 19-20. századi magyar prostitúciópolitika története
city played a leading role in the labour market, as well as incorporating masses of people. As a consequence, the catering and entertainment trades developed to a metropolitan level. Visting a brothel was an important part of the night life, and this included risking getting a V.D. such as syphilis, the fashionable sickness of the age. In 1863 Lajos Grosz the chief police-doctor wrote in his book titled Police Medicine: "V.D. spreads by sexual intercourse and the source is the prostitute, thus, the number of them should be decreased and the illness must be controlled by treatment at least twice a week. Sick girls should be put in hospital." 5 The municipal law of 1867 6 described the isolation of areas in which there were brothels, partly so that they were hidden from public exposure and partly to ensure controllability by the police. The law, consisting of five sections and 81 paragraphs, tried to define the suitable spot of the brothels and the duties of each of the participants. For fifty years this law was the basis of consecutive rules. It was in the city's own interest to regulate the "wild" prostitution and to maintain public order. As a result, decrees were brought and sanitary prescriptions and taxation were ordered as follows: 1. Rules of activity within brothel. 2. Mode of registration of the prostitutes (a/ voluntarily, bl by force). 3. Medical examinations and treatment of the sick.. 4. Duties of the police commissioner. 5. Duties of the district policeman. In the mind of the "municipal fathers" the sole location for sexual activity was the brothel, for it was a closed, ghetto like site, suitable for police control. Although, the regulation in some points was right and revelant, in general it proved unsuitable for overall control. For instance, the regulation dealt neither with the alternative of existing private and secret prostitutes, nor with the white slave trafficing or pimping. The control of those hard to clear up activities remained unsolved, and the authorities could not cope with problems of this kind. However, the brothels' "fresh meat" supply was to be ensured only by the well organized pimpers' network. The system was that pimpers visited the hospitals in search of girls who were cured of syphilis or girls after childbirth - leaving behind the unwanted baby - and offered them a "new workplace". At railway stations the pimpers picked out newly arrived country girls who were lookeing for a job and, with the promise of a light and paying job in the city or on abroad, ushered them into the brothels and sold them there. In this way, a turnover of "goods" was setting up between brothels: "White slaves on a black market". 7 Institutionalized prostitution worked like a guild system in the sex-industry. The brothel functioned in a ghetto-like, closed unit where the participants' role was determined and activity was controlled. This form was tolerated and agreed to by the demands of society. According to the national census of 1870 there were 274 registered prostitutes working in Pest 8 , 42 of whom were of foreign origin, 38 of them from Austria 9 . 5 Grosz : L.: Orvosi rendőrség. Pest, Engel, 1863. 119. 6 Corpus Juris Hungáriáé, Rendelet a bordélyokról és a prostituáltakról (Regulation on brothels and prostitutes.) Pest. 33.474/1867. 7 F.L., M.K. Államrendőrség (Hungarian Royal State Police) 34958 s Kórósy, J.: Budapesti adótanulmányok. Jövedelem adó 1871 és 1873. (Studies on Revenues and Taxes in the City of Pest). Pest, Rath, 1873. 253. "Ibid. 44-45.
