Is the town at the end of Lake Geneva, bastion of Protestantism, as austere as we think? While today the Rues-Basses are devoted to shopping, in the 19th century, brothels were established there. Local Colors traced the evolution of places of prostitution throughout the City of Calvin.
A few hundred meters from Saint-Pierre Cathedral, in the Old Town of Geneva, a quiet neighborhood hides its game well. “It was rue des Belles-Filles” and here “rue Chausse-Coq”, says Catherine Hubert Girod, a guide who offers to visit the “sulphurous” districts of the city.
In this former libertine district, names like “impasse du Vieux-Bordel” (today’s rue Maurice) and “rue Chausse-Cul” (today’s rue Chausse-Coq) flourished because of the many prostitutes who worked there. .
In the 15th century, the prince-bishop decided to restrict this trade, deemed immoral, and to “concentrate” all activity linked to sex “in these streets”, the Genevan woman further specifies.
Calvinist turn
With the arrival of Calvin and the adoption of the Protestant Reformation in 1536 in Geneva, prostitution was simply banned. The profession was therefore relegated to the suburbs of the city, notably in rue des Etuves (right bank), where girls of joy frequented mixed public baths.
>> Carouge was also a “center of smuggling and prostitution”, explains historian André Corboz:
Further outside the city, a “city of perdition” also serves to “let off steam” for the Genevans: Carouge. At the beginning, it was only a western town, (…) a kind of smuggling and prostitution center”, explains the historian André Corboz in an RTS archive from 1971. Posters were even posted up in the Old Town to urge citizens to give up their escapades.
However, prostitution has not disappeared from Geneva. If today, in the heart of the Rues-Basses, restaurants and brands largely dominate, in the 19th century the atmosphere was completely different.
There were just as many businesses, but also brothels, both regulatory and clandestine.
At the time, “brothels, both regulatory and clandestine,” emerged on the commercial artery. One of the houses was particularly successful. We could see this thanks to the “heavy taxes” she paid, underlines the guide.
An association created in Pâquis
It was not until 1925 that these places of lust were banned in Geneva. Activity then gradually moves towards the right bank, close to the train station, hotels and other nightlife establishments.
In 1982, sex workers in Pâquis organized themselves into an association. The initiative comes in particular from Grisélidis Réal, an artist, writer and peripatetician. The activist and founding member, who died in 2005, bequeathed all her archives (historical documents, press clippings, etc.) to the association Aspasia. These are accessible to the public.
>> Read about it: The Large Format dedicated to Grisélidis Real
TV topic: Gianluca Agosta
Web adaptation: Doreen Enssle
