Prostitution and the Ends of Empire

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Focusing on the spatial politics of brothels in British India during the interwar period, the book explores how reform campaigns shifted from tolerating to suppressing these establishments. By combining insights from sexology and hygiene with moral concerns about sexual slavery, reformers argued that brothels exacerbated social issues rather than contained them. Stephen Legg examines the multifaceted impacts of these campaigns across various scales, revealing how they reshaped urban and colonial boundaries and ultimately led to the civil abandonment of prostitutes.