The Brothel on the Page: Print, Prostitution, and Blame in Antebellum America
Completed during my senior year at the University of Michigan, this honors thesis explores how prostitution was depicted in print sources throughout the antebellum era. Using blame as a framework, I argue that authors crafted narratives that exploited and reinforced popular anxieties about gender, sexuality, class, and urbanization.
In addition to receiving highest honors, this thesis was awarded the Arthur Fondiler Award for Best Undergraduate History Thesis (Runner-Up), the Patricia Kennedy Prize, and the Granader Family Prize for Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Social Sciences).
Click image to view a PDF of the thesis.
