Sex and Money: The History of Paris since 1750

Paris, seen through the rose-tinted glasses of Hollywood, is the city of love. How did this come to be? And what does this image hide? Across the modern period, shopping and women’s work were sexualized, prostitution was normalized, regulated, and made “safe” for bourgeois clients, nude women performed on music hall stages, and gay cultures emerged in new commercial venues. This class will examine how sexual commerce shaped the identity of the city, how the commercial spaces of the city shaped sexual identities, and how discourses about sexuality contributed to the legitimation of capitalism. We will engage with topics ranging from the construction of gender difference and the emergence of mass media, to the relationship between the expansion of global capitalism and the rise of moral panics.