Prostitution as a Tool for Solving Social Problems of Eastern Siberia and the East of the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century

Abstract

The article examines the problem of organizing prostitution and the specific historical plot of the attempt of the Siberian bureaucracy to solve the social problems of the region by means of buying corrupt women. Prostitution, one of the phenomena of everyday life of society since ancient times, in this context is considered as a way of realizing the natural needs of not only an intimate, but also socio-economic nature. The purpose of the work is to disclose the conditions and nature of the organization of prostitution in the eastern outskirts of the Russian empire and attempts to use it as a tool to solve social problems. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicity, objectivity, as well as on micro-historical and problem-chronological research methods. The main source of research was archival materials not previ-ously published contained in regional and federal archives, which are correspondence between the highest Siberian officials. The paper presents a brief historiography of the problem, contain-ing the main conceptual directions in the study of issues of the intimate life of society in the 19th century. The state played the main role in the regulation of prostitution in the Russian Empire, and the police authorities, which controlled the organization and organization of brothels, and the medical examination of prostitutes and their movement, played the oversight. The article provides some data on practicing prostitutes of foreign origin. This aspect is quite interesting, as it was used to solve certain geopolitical problems both by the authorities of the Russian Empire and by states competing with it. The paper also considers some typical plots characterizing the existence of prostitution on the territory of the CER, which is currently poorly studied. In con-clusion, it is concluded that the issue of loneliness and extreme insufficiency of women in East-ern Siberia and even more in the Far East forced the Russian administration to find extremely original ways to solve it. At the same time, the threat of geopolitical strengthening of a strong and energetic neighbor – China, to the regions of the empire, became a decisive and obviously most important argument against it.