i do give a Duck
6.2K posts
@AwantikaSi59097
realist. ocean kayaking, history, AI, calisthenics, literature SIKHNI anti-sexwork, anti-surrogacy
“It’s exploitation” Yeah no shit it’s labor, capital steals their labor. “But you can’t really consent when moneys involved.” Ok? Can you consent to coal mining where your lungs die? No, because money is involved. These things of labor should not be demonized. Sw is normal work.
Should grooms file cases against girls who expect government jobs or six pack abs? That is also dowry
Show me better dance than this
Boys, who would you choose?
Recently discovered this anti-smoking campaign poster by Martin Williams back in the 1990s
Sex workers in a brothel in France, 1910.... These women were likely working in a *maison close*—a regulated brothel. At the time, prostitution in France wasn’t hidden in the same way it is today. It was legal and tightly controlled by the state. Women working in these establishments were registered, subject to regular medical exams, and often lived inside the brothel itself under strict rules. They didn’t come and go freely the way people often imagine. Photos like this were often staged. They weren’t meant to expose reality—they were meant to *sell an atmosphere*. Brothels competed for clients, especially wealthier men, and presentation mattered. The poses, the clothing (or partial lack of it), the relaxed but deliberate body language—this is advertising, even if it looks informal. Some of these images were turned into postcards or private keepsakes, circulating quietly among clients. But there’s a harder truth underneath the surface. Many of these women didn’t enter this life out of choice. Poverty, lack of options, family pressure, or outright coercion pushed them there. Once inside, debt systems often kept them trapped—owing money for clothes, food, and lodging to the very establishment they worked in. So while the image might feel almost theatrical or even glamorous, the reality behind it was often controlled, limited, and harsh. And yet—there’s something striking here. The way they’re posed together, the confidence in their expressions, the sense of group identity. Whether staged or not, it captures a moment of presence—women who existed inside a system that tried to define them, but who still held onto some version of themselves within it. So no, this isn’t one specific documented “story” tied to named individuals. But it *is* a snapshot of a much bigger story—about gender, control, survival, and how societies package uncomfortable realities into something easier to look at. © Women In World History #archaeohistories
