Many really excellent studies of prostitution in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin America exist, but such works are sparse for the colonial period. Despite the prodigious and admirable growth in scholarly literature on gender in the colonial period, the lack of abundant documentation meant that studies of New Spain usually skirted the issue of sex work. Nicole von Germeten builds on this foundational literature and on the excellent study by Ana María Atondo Rodríguez published in 1992, El amor venal y la condición femenina en el México colonial. It was long past time for new insights, and this is a book that is clearly informed by the theoretical and activist approaches that have blossomed since the 1990s.
Von Germeten starts by tackling terminology; sex activists have rejected the term prostitute in favor of sex worker. However, the author explains that it would be anachronistic to adopt modern terminology. She...
