Abolitionism (prostitution)

In the history of the women's movement , abolitionism is a social movement that worked towards the abolition of state-controlled prostitution .

history

The English women's rights activist Josephine Butler is named as the founder of the abolitionist movement, who turned against the Contagious Diseases Acts in a passionate and longstanding campaign . These edicts required prostitutes to undergo compulsory medical examinations in order to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The male customers of the prostitutes, on the other hand, remained unmolested. Many women saw these decrees and similar legislation in other countries cementing the existing double standard of sexuality, which gave men a different freedom of action than women.

The name "Abolitionism" is a deliberate reference to the US anti-slavery movement : Butler turned against the legal and sexual enslavement of women, which she believed culminated in prostitution and the "white slave trade" ( human trafficking ).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, forms of sexual violence in and outside of prostitution that affected non-white women - be it in the USA or in colonial areas - were ignored in this debate . The debates and political approaches were shaped by racist assumptions about the hypersexuality of black women and their supposedly 'natural' tendency towards prostitution on the one hand and the construction of female innocence by white women on the other.

Inspired by Josephine Butler and the Ladies' National Organization she heads, so-called morality associations were established in many other countries . However, while Josephine Butler held libertarian views and was of the opinion that a woman could choose to sell physical services, these organizations supported the continuation of the criminality of prostitution, for the most part represented a very strict moral code and demanded a law of chastity applicable to both sexes .

The goal of abolitionist activists was to reduce what they saw as an artificial demand for commercialized sexuality . From their point of view, there would be no prostitution without state-licensed brothels , police-registered prostitutes and without the aforementioned mandatory gynecological examinations for female prostitutes. In this sense, the adoption of the Convention to Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings and the Exploitation of Others by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 2, 1949 can be seen, among other things, as the result of transnational efforts by abolitionists since the late 19th century. The aim of the convention was to prevent international trafficking in human beings for the purpose of prostitution and sexual work in general as far as possible.

Current developments

Abolitionist movements and demands have become stronger again in the context of developments following the legalization of prostitution in Germany in 2002. In 2014, an alliance of people from different areas of society was founded who advocate an end to the prostitution system.

Switzerland

The Fédération abolitionniste internationale (FAI) was founded in Geneva in 1875 .

Abolitionist associations in Switzerland

• International Association of Friends of Young Girls
• Swiss women's association for the improvement of morality

Important activists

• Emma Pieczynska-Reichenbach
• Marie Humbert-Droz
• Hélène de Gingins

Germany

German representatives of abolitionism include Anna Pappritz , Minna Cauer , Katharina Scheven , Anita Augspurg and Lida Gustava Heymann .

United Nations

• Convention to Stop Trafficking in Human Beings and the Exploitation of Prostitution of Others

literature

• Petra Schmackpfeffer: Chapter 3. The relationship of the old German women's movement to prostitution . In: Dies .: Women's movement and prostitution . About the relationship of the old and new German women's movement to prostitution. Oldenburg 1989.
• Bettina Kretzschmar: Clear the way for the disturbing plow of criticism. The beginning of the abolitionist movement in Germany. in: Ariadne 55 (2009) 55, pp. 6-11.
• Bettina Kretzschmar: Equal morals and equal rights for men and women. The German branch of the International Abolitionist Movement (1899-1933). , Sulzbach / Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-89741-359-7 .
• Sonja Dolinsek: Convention to Prevent  Human Trafficking (1949) and Declaration on Prostitution and Human Rights (1986) , in: Sources for the History of Human Rights, published by the Working Group on Human Rights in the 20th Century, September 2016, accessed on January 11, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sonja Dolinsek: Convention for the Suppression of Trafficking in Persons (1949) and statement on prostitution and human rights (1986). (No longer available online.) In: Sources for the history of human rights. Working Group Human Rights in the 20th Century, September 2016, archived from the original on January 11, 2017 ; accessed on May 2, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Abolition 2014 - Positions and Demands. Retrieved February 21, 2020 .