Sexologists Examine Lesbians and Prostitutes in the United States, 1840-1940

Abstract

This article illustrates correlations that sexologists made between prostitutes and lesbians in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States. Examining medical writing and sexological discourse in both the United States and abroad, the author creates a tentative framework in which to understand shifts between 1840 and 1940 in sexologists' specific concerns and questions about prostitutes and lesbians as well as changes in sexological research methodologies and social and medical explanations for relationships among these two groups of "deviant"women. Ultimately, however, the article concludes that sexologists--and society's--underlying fears about female sexual deviance remained static, fueling continued discussion about potential parallels between prostitutes and lesbians in the mid- to late twentieth century.

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