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"We Have Never Allowed Such A Thing Here...": Social Responses to Saskatchewan's Early Sex Trade, 1880 to 1920

dc.contributor.advisorWaiser, Billen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWright, Sharonen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberBiggs, Lesleyen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberKennedy, Margareten_US
dc.creatorYork, Sarahen_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-21T19:01:12Z
dc.date.available2014-01-21T19:01:12Z
dc.date.created2013-08en_US
dc.date.issued2013-09-24en_US
dc.date.submittedAugust 2013en_US
dc.description.abstractDespite what the title suggests, Saskatchewan had a booming sex trade in its early years. The area attracted hundreds of women sex workers before Saskatchewan had even become a province in 1905. They were drawn to the area by the demands of bachelors who dominated Canada's prairie west. According to Saskatchewan's moral reformers, however, the sex trade was a hindrance to the province's Christian potential. They called for its abolishment and headed white slavery campaigns that characterized prostitution as a form of slavery. Their approach stood in contrast with law enforcement's stance on the trade. The police took a tolerant approach, allowing its operation as long as sex workers and their clients remained circumspect. Law enforcement's approach reflected their own propensity to use the services of sex workers as well as community attitudes toward the trade. Some communities were more welcoming of sex workers, while others demanded that police suppress the trade. Saskatchewan's newspapers also reflected differing attitudes toward the trade. While Regina's Leader purveyed a no tolerance view of the sex trade, Saskatoon's Phoenix and Star held more tolerant views. Saskatchewan's newspapers reveal that as the province's population increased and notions of moral reform gained popularity, police were challenged to take a less tolerant approach. However, reformers' efforts to end the sex trade dwindled with the onset of the First World War and attitudes toward sex workers shifted drastically as responsibility for venereal disease was placed largely on women who sold sex. Using government and police records, moral reform and public health documents, and media sources such as newspapers, as well as intersectional analysis of gender, race, class, and ethnicity, this examination of Saskatchewan’s sex trade investigates the histories and social responses to the buying and selling of sex, revealing the complex and, at times, contradictory place of sex workers and the sex trade in Saskatchewan’s early history.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2013-08-1159en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.subjectsex worken_US
dc.subjectsex tradeen_US
dc.subjectprostitutionen_US
dc.subjecthistoryen_US
dc.subjectSaskatchewanen_US
dc.subjectwhite slaveryen_US
dc.subjectvenereal diseaseen_US
dc.subjectpublic healthen_US
dc.subjectmoral reformen_US
dc.subjectpoliceen_US
dc.subject(Royal) North-West Mounted Policeen_US
dc.subjectnewspapersen_US
dc.subjectSaskatoon Phoenixen_US
dc.subjectSaskatoon Staren_US
dc.subjectRegina Leaderen_US
dc.subjectgenderen_US
dc.subjectraceen_US
dc.subjectclassen_US
dc.subjectruralen_US
dc.subjecturbanen_US
dc.title"We Have Never Allowed Such A Thing Here...": Social Responses to Saskatchewan's Early Sex Trade, 1880 to 1920en_US
dc.type.genreThesisen_US
dc.type.materialtexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentHistoryen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Saskatchewanen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (M.A.)en_US

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