"This book is an examination, from a feminist historian's point of view, of the background to the present system of regulating prostitution in Britain, which is generally admitted to be not only unjust and discriminatory, but ineffective even in achieving its stated aims. Concentrating on the 1950's, and especially the Wolfenden Report and the 1959 Street Offences Act, it is a thorough exposure of the sexual double standards and general misogynistic assumptions underlying legislation relating to prostitution. In addition to the detailed analysis of the 1950s legislation and the background to it, there is an exposition of the subsequent workings of the Act, and of attempts to amend or repeal it."--Jacket.