5 Ways Sex Work Shows Up in Fashion History: May 23, 2024

It’s Day 26 of my Spring Challenge!

As a reminder, this challenge means that either you get an email in your inbox 5 times per week until May 31st (which means I get a set of luxurious, vintage jammies) OR I have to donate $5 to a charity I hate for every week that I miss the goal.

Series #5: 5 Ways Sex Work Shows Up in Fashion History

This is the last series of my Spring Writing Challenge, I can’t believe it!

And now my usual disclaimer: I only have 30 minutes to write this, I have something in the oven (okay, I don’t, but I do have a very long to-do list), etc etc etc. Be prepped!

I am aware that racism and sex work are painful topics for many. Please keep yourself and your health first and do not read this if it may hurt you.

This is a painful and touchy topic for many of us. I’m not sure about you, readers, but I’ve come across too many instances of the word “whore” being bandied about as a weapon to police women’s agency - whether it’s where we move, who we live with, or, of course, what we wear.

Some of these instances are online, some have been in-person where I’ve crossed catcalling or muttered insults in public, either regarding me or other women around me. Some of these have been stories told to me by friends.

None of us have escaped its dangerous implications - dressing too “provocatively” can at minimum impact our commutes, at maximum it can lead to financial and physical harm.

But of course, none of this is new. Clothing has long been used to judge who is “proper” and who is not - even when the yardstick makes no sense. The rules are arbitrary and unfortunately, generations of women have had to abide by them.

Today’s Pick: An 1870 Law in California

America’s history with Asian immigration is a long and fraught one. I particularly want to focus on one Californian law here: The Act to Prevent Kidnapping and Importation of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese Females for Criminal or Demoralizing Purposes.

This act was passed to allow the state to deny entry to any Asian women of “low character”, under the guise of protecting them from kidnapping or unwanted sex work. In reality, it was a way to allow the state to sanction racism against Asian women, whom people in power believed to be naturally sex workers or slaves.

For an Asian woman to gain entry into California, she had to prove she was of upstanding character.

How did they determine who had an excellent character and who did not?

Their clothes, of course.

At a hearing, experts were brought in to prove that certain Asian women did NOT uphold the rules for this excellent character California had made up. These experts were of course, white and male.

Here are some direct quotes:

Gibson testified that Chinese sex workers wore colorful undergarments: “Probably yellow or pink or red, and some figures on it of some kind.”

Condit went further to say that Chinese sex workers wore “a gayer style of dress, a dress with yellow in it, and brighter colors.”

While neither of them could read Chinese characters, their clothes, according to Gibson and Condit “gave them away”: “The flowers on that girl at the end, and her whole get up indicate without a doubt;…In half of their cases, there is evidence to my mind that they belong to that class from the clothing they have on.”

Flowers!!! Now indicative of sex work!! With absolutely no other context, mind you. And mind you, the same flowers would probably have been seen as an indication of youth, innocence, and naivety, if worn by a white woman.

Sex work is inextricably tied up with fashion, with clothes marking those in the “oldest profession” and used as a method of ostracism. Very often, these attacks are targeted at those at the margins of society without rhyme or reason (I repeat to you: FLOWERS) or an understanding of cultural backgrounds.

The act we’ve discussed above was passed in 1870 and was only a precursor to an even harsher act passed in 1875. However, even though it may seem far, this association of sex work and fashion continues - as most women I know today are well aware of.

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xoxo,

Simran