When this act was repealed in 1984, business-savvy sex workers were quick to move their cards out of shop windows and into public telephone boxes. The 1953 Post Office Act made it illegal to advertise in or “in any way disfigure” telephone boxes in the UK. These colourful, bold advertisements came to be affectionately known as ‘tart cards’, and the thousands housed at Wellcome Collection offer a valuable insight into the hidden history of selling sex.Ĭollected between September and December 1992 / Wellcome Collection, Creative CommonsĬollected between February and March 1993 / Wellcome Collection, Creative CommonsĬollected between April and May 1993 / Wellcome Collection, Creative CommonsĬollected between December 1992 and February 1993 / Wellcome Collection, Creative Commons So to obviate the need for a go-between, sex workers began to advertise their services with small, cheaply produced cards that were placed discreetly in newsagents’ windows. Indoor sex work, in brothels and saunas, is generally safer than street sex work, but often requires a third party, who will take a cut of the profit. In 1956 it became illegal to solicit on the streets, so sex workers had to find new ways to recruit clients. “Just over half the cards at Wellcome advertise BDSM services.” / Wellcome Collection, Creative Commons But how did sex workers advertise and contact clients before the internet? The Phone-Box Cult Like many industries, sex work has been revolutionised by the rise of the internet, and the online market is now the largest sector of the UK sex industry.
The dilemma faced by every sex worker operating under criminalisation throughout history is how to attract clients without also attracting the attention of the law. What’s more, the threat of punitive measures forces the trade underground, and creates dangerous working conditions.ĭr Kate Lister with the sex worker card collection, Thomas SG Farnetti / Wellcome Collection As a historian of sex work, I can tell you that no attempt to abolish prostitution through criminalisation has ever been successful. The sex trade is as old as civilisation itself, and as long as people have been buying and selling sexual services, the authorities have been trying to regulate it. As well as accumulating a cult following, these miniature advertisements tell us a lot about fluctuations and fashions in what was on offer. In the 1980s a change in the law meant UK phone boxes became noticeboards for business cards selling sexual services. Sex worker card collection, Thomas SG Farnetti / Wellcome Collection, Creative Commons