Public Women: The Representation of Prostitutes in German Weimar Films

This book explores the representation of prostitution in German Weimar films between 1919 and 1933. It theorizes that prostitutes are illustrated through characters who are public women. The women who step out of their homes to enter public or who are somehow introduced to strangers without leaving their homes are public women. The public women in these films as public women living in Germany were in danger of being identified as prostitutes and becoming prostitutes. A woman’s public position made her vulnerable to the male sexualized gaze. The male sexualized gaze ultimately led to a woman’s prostitution.