Oбштe блудницe: прoституциja у Бeoгрaду у првoj пoлoвини 19. вeкa
Publick Strumpets: Belgrade Prostitution in the first half of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the customary law on prostitution in Serbia until 1850, when it was statutorily criminalized. As elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire, there was no difference in law between a prostitute and a promiscuous woman. Both were „strumpets” and were punished as such, as were their male partners. This infringement was called smešenije or bludodjejanije and it corresponded to the notion of zina in Ottoman law. To denote those „strumpets” who received remuneration, the qualifiers „publick” or „common” were used. The data on 130 common strumpets active in Belgrade before 1851 show that most of them were married (56%) or widowed (28%). Many widows had been married to respectable men, such as tradesmen and, less frequently, merchants and civil servants. Most prostitutes lived in misery, but a few had substantial incomes, often invested in real estate. Some enjoyed the protection of powerful men and/or the police. The paper includes the biography of a well-known prostitute of the time. Born to Christian parents in 1811, she was enslaved and Islamised in 1813, but reverted to Christianity in 1830. For a few years she was married to a high-ranking official.

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