The line
The line is a field study by the Austrian sociologist Roland Girtler on the Viennese prostitution environment .
In the German-speaking world, Girtler's study is now regarded as a - not undisputed - classic of modern prostitution research .
Publication history
The study was first published as a book in 1985 with the subtitle Explorations in Vienna . The second and third revised editions (1987/1988 and 1990, respectively) have the subtitle Sexuality as Business . Revised again, the fourth edition appeared in 1994 under the title Erotik der Straße . The fifth edition (2004) is currently available (subtitle: Sociology of a Milieus ).
methodology
Methodologically, Girtler relies primarily on participant observation and the “ero-epic conversation” (i.e. qualitative interviews ). He explicitly distances himself from quantitative-statistical methods and refers to the research approaches of the Chicago School .
content
Girtler describes the interaction between pimps , prostitutes and customers . On the prostitute side, the main motive is the need to earn a living in a simple way. Many of the women also come from precarious economic and social circumstances, which make it difficult for them to carry out other activities. While her relationship with customers is of a purely financial nature, the relationship with the pimp is of an emotional nature, as this gives her the feeling of being accepted as a person and woman. The pimp thus becomes the “whore of the whore”, who is paid by the prostitute for his emotional services.
Although the strategies of the actors (pimps and prostitutes) differ greatly from the biography and career ideas of bourgeois society, their goals are quite conventional in nature, namely primarily to gain wealth.
expenditure
- Roland Girtler: The line. Eroticism of the street . 1st edition, Edition S, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7046-0514-X .
- Roland Girtler: The line. Sociology of a milieu . 6th edition, Lit, Vienna / Berlin / Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-8258-7699-9 .