Kísérlet a prostituáltak szocialista átnevelésére és büntetésére Magyarországon 1950–1960 között
An Attempt for the Socialist Re-education and Punishment of Prostitutes in Hungary between 1950–1960

Summary/Abstract: The study demonstrates that even though official ideology condemned solicitation for prostitution as a reprehensible activity against Socialist morale and norms, participation in prostitution was weighted solely on the basis of obligatory class category labels. Whereas before 1950, the authorities made a sharp distinction between legal (registered) and illegal (clandestine) prostitutes, following the abolition of legal prostitution, the distinction was made between “class aliens” and “working class” prostitutes instead. In police action undertaken between 1950 and 1960, the sentencing and its implementation were preceded by a thorough examination of the class category of the accused, which greatly affected the quality of both. Class alien prostitutes were instantly criminalised and were deemed reprehensible, which clearly suggests that the retribution was exacted not for soliciting but for the perpetrator’s class affiliation.

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