Abstract
The article is devoted to the positive and negative features of the legalization of prostitution in the 19th – early 20th centuries. The author argues that the legalization of prostitution in the Russian Empire was of the forced nature: by this the authorities tried to stop the growth of venereal diseases among the population. Prostitution was a subject to the state control, specific rules and regulations were published for prostitutes and for those who owned brothels. A significant part of prostitutes were country women leaving their villages in search of work; the basis of prostitution in the Russian Empire was the socio-economic reasons. For many prostitution seemed to be a more simple source of income than physical labor.The relationship between students as intellectuals and prostitutes is examined. It is indicated that in 42 % of cases it was prostitutes to become the first sex partners for gymnasium males. During the student years, more than 66 % of students lived an active sex live, and only 16.7 % were married. Prostitution served as the simplest and a relatively affordable way to meet the students’ sexual needs. More than 65 % of students judged prostitution as a phenomenon, yet did not agree with its liquidation.The author reflects upon the sexualisation of life of the Russian intellectuals in the early 20th cen- tury and the role prostitution had played in these processes. After the defeat of the first Russian revolution (1905–1907), being under the consequent spiritual crisis, the intelligentsia decided to look for ways of distraction from the reality by reading erotic literature, organizing the “free love leagues”, distributing por- nographic cards. The Russian society was experiencing the stage of the “sexual revolution” that brought the “silver age” and psychoanalysis. The problem of “society and prostitution” became loud as never before. The final ban of prostitution occurred during the February Revolution of 1917.
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