Prostitutas de buena tinta

Abstract

Pura Fernández analyzes prostitution and morality regarding the behavior of women over time, drawing on both literature and scientific texts. She focuses on prostitution in Hispanic literature and in Spanish society in general, from the 19th to the 20th century, for which she consults and mentions a large bibliography on the subject. Regarding literature, she does not focus only on her best-known works, but on the forgotten ones, from which she rescues good testimonies, data and ideologies in this regard. Each chapter of the eight that make up the book deals with a different topic, from the analysis of female figures in European literature (especially French) and the language referring to prostitutes to highlight social ideas to the speeches of each author and society, in addition to comparing literature with texts on hygiene and medicine. Likewise, she analyzes in detail the fact that some writers tried to moralize on the subject, without taking into account the interpretative freedom of the reader. In short, this book by Pura Fernández invites us to reflect on a society in which fiction was used to criticize, teach and reflect on sexual and social issues.