Inside Europe's Biggest Red Light District

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Between 1860 and 1925, tens of thousands of women worked in Dublin's Monto, the largest red light district in Europe.

It was a world of narrow alleyways full of brothels busy with sex workers, at a time when the Catholic church was trying to establish ideas around what a woman should be. Hint: it was very different to the women of Monto.

What was life like for the women who lived and worked in Monto? How did these 'poor unfortunates', as they were known, create a community and support each other amidst such hard times? And how did they influence fashion trends of the time?

Joining Kate today is the fantastic Caroline West, author of Wrong Women: Selling Sex in Monto, Dublin's Forgotten Red Light District, which is available now.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister.
0:02.4	If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.7	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters.
0:16.0	And enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:24.6	Hello, my lovely but twixters.
0:26.9	How the hell have you been?
0:28.7	I'm fine.
0:29.3	Thank you very much for asking.
0:30.7	I can't wait to delve into today's episode.
0:32.9	That's for damn sure.
0:33.9	I hope your game as well.
0:35.5	But it is of a sensitive nature. So I have to tell you,
0:39.8	this is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way
0:43.3	covering a range of adult subjects and you should be an adult too. And we have to tell you that
0:46.7	because if you sit down and you listen and you happen to get offended, then we get in trouble.
0:50.8	But if we've told you at the start that it's a spicy one, well, then that's just all on you, I'm afraid. Fair do's, you were warned. Right, on with the show.
1:01.9	Join me for a stroll betwixters to the cobbled streets of Dublin at the turn of the 20th century.
1:07.8	Up here north of the River Leafy, the streets get narrower, darker and provide a haven for the countless brothels and the thousands of sex workers that have called this part of town home.
1:19.1	Oh look, there's Bella Cohen, and she runs one of the BDSM brothels here in Montau.
1:24.3	A very interesting lady, and just one of the many incredible characters around here that I can't wait to introduce you to.
1:31.7	Her brothel was actually a favourite of the writer James Joyce who even gives her a mention in his book Ulysses.
	...

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