“Safety Valves of Social Passions”

This chapter examines depictions of urban prostitution from the perspective of medical, judicial, and sociological discourses. Russian writers, including Vsevolod Garshin, Leo Tolstoy, and Leonid Andreev drew upon stories from actual sex workers to debunk the theories of prominent sociologists and criminologists like Cesare Lombroso who argued that prostitution was necessary to preserve the social order. Yet these Russian writers, while sympathetic to the registered prostitute, nevertheless engaged in moments of voyeurism and fetishization. Unable to determine whether the prostitute's body should evoke empathy or titillation, their texts vacillate between eroticism and revulsion. This chapter thus analyzes four texts debated in leading journals, lecture halls, and salons throughout Russia. Each work represents a shift in the national narrative on femininity, the commodification of sex, and the discussion of women's rights.