Women's Labors: Reproduction and Sex Work in Medieval Europe

Abstract

What meaning could "sex work" have in pre-industrial Europe? The Book of the Taille from Paris in 1392 lists 172 occupations for women. 1 Prostitution, however, does not figure among them. Nor can we identify in medieval sources any of the other occupations that today might fall under the rubric "sex work"—notably performers of various sorts. Some medieval writers did identify prostitution as a variety of work. Thomas of Chobham, a twelfth-century theologian, for example, argued that a prostitute earned her pay through her work and was entitled to her wages. 2 Later medieval versions of saints' lives, unlike earlier ones, focus on earning one's living, rather than lust, as the motivation for prostitution. 3 Nevertheless, for most medieval authors, a meretrix was primarily a sinful woman, not a woman who did a particular kind of work.

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