"Male harlots" harass Peterson Street in Fort Collins (1884)

"Male harlots" harass Peterson Street in Fort Collins (1884)

male harlots, sex work, prostitution

An account form the Fort Collins Courier in 1884 describing a known "lewd house" on Peterson Street in Fort Collins and a group of "male harlots" who disrupted city residents in their search for it. Based on the context of the article, the meaning of "male harlots" is unclear. The term was used at the time to describe both a) male clients of female sex workers and b) male sex workers, particularly those who catered to male clients for homosexual sex. In the case of the latter, the story would indicate that the strong homosexual sex work industry that existed in the late 19th century in major U.S. cities and near military installations was present in Northern Colorado as well.

Fort Collins Courier, October 30, 1884, pp. 5.

Colorado Historic Newspapers

October 30, 1884

Thomas R. Dunn (researcher)

Public domain -- published before 1926

PDF, JPEG

English

newspaper