!!!Prostitution

Prostitution, during the Late Middle Ages prostitutes lived in special 
houses (documented mention of a "house of women" in Vienna, 
1382). As syphilis spread in Austria after the discovery of America, 
and concepts of morality became more stringently defined by the 
Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the social status of prostitution 
decreased. Maria Theresia sought to eradicate prostitution, but failed 
in the long run. Prostitution was controlled by police surveillance 
and being confined to brothels (1873: "health books" for 
registered prostitutes), but secret prostitution remained a problem, 
especially in Vienna. Here prostitution was concentrated in certain 
districts (Spittelberg, today Vienna´s 7%%sup th/% 
 district) in the 18%%sup th/%  and in the early 
19%%sup th/%  centuries. Around 1820 the number of prostitutes in 
Vienna reached an estimated 20,000 and around 1890 about 25,000; 1,879 
prostitutes were officially registered in 1913, 711 in 1993.


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[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Prostitution|class='wikipage austrian']
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