In Infamous Commerce, Laura J. Rosenthal uses literary and
historical sources to explore the meaning of prostitution from the
Restoration through the eighteenth century, showing how both
reformers and libertines constructed the modern meaning of sex work
during this period. From Grub Street's lurid "whore biographies" to
the period's most acclaimed novels, the prostitute was depicted as
facing a choice between abject poverty and some form of sex
work.Prostitution, in Rosenthal's view, confronted the core
controversies of eighteenth-century capitalism: luxury, desire,
global trade, commodification, social mobility, gender identity,
imperialism, self-ownership, alienation, and even the nature of
work itself. In the context of extensive research into printed
accounts of both male and female prostitution-among them sermons,
popular prostitute biographies, satire, pornography, brothel
guides, reformist writing, and travel narratives-Rosenthal offers
in-depth readings of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and Pamela and
the responses to the latter novel (including Eliza Haywood's
Anti-Pamela), Bernard Mandeville's defenses of prostitution, Daniel
Defoe's Roxana, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and travel journals
about the voyages of Captain Cook to the South Seas. Throughout,
Rosenthal considers representations of the prostitute's own
sexuality (desire, revulsion, etc.) to be key parts of the changing
meaning of "the oldest profession."
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