The League of Nations, prostitutes and their rehabilitation

This research aims to provide a comparative analysis of the international initiatives of the League of Nations around rehabilitation of (female) prostitutes and of the point of view of prostitutes themselves on prostitution. On the one hand, I will analyse the discourse of the League of Nations and its national (governmental and non-governmental) partners on prostitution and the rehabilitation of prostitutes; on the other hand, I will focus on the social profiles of prostitutes from various European and non-European countries and on their attitudes toward labour, commercial sex and rehabilitation programmes. As such, the project aims at linking up with the study of international and women's organisations and their view on social issues, as well as providing a historical perspective to current debates on prostitution by placing the views of prostitutes at the centre of the research. The originality of the project concerns not only the subject but also its approach, as it combines discursive and empirical methodologies.