Sexual Entertainment

Behind the public cabarets and music halls existed a vast sexual entertainment industry. The maisons de tolérance (licensed brothels) ranged from squalid "maisons d'abattage" (slaughterhouses) serving working men to elaborate establishments offering theatrical scenarios for wealthy clients.

The most exclusive houses became cultural institutions. The Chabanais, frequented by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), featured themed rooms—Japanese, Moorish, Medieval—allowing clients to purchase exotic fantasies. The One-Two-Two at 122 rue de Provence offered mirrored rooms, underground pools, and elaborate costumes. These establishments commissioned art, furniture, and decorations from major artists, blurring lines between brothel and salon.

The demi-monde—courtesans occupying the space between respectability and prostitution—created their own entertainment culture. Women like Liane de Pougy and Émilienne d'Alençon became celebrities, their affairs chronicled in gossip columns. They attended premieres, raced automobiles, and set fashion trends. Their memoirs, published later, revealed calculating professionals managing careers in pleasure.

Photography enabled new forms of sexual commerce. Pornographic postcards, technically illegal but widely available, circulated by the millions. "Academic" nude studies provided respectable covers for erotic images. The development of small cameras enabled amateur pornography, blackmail schemes, and new privacy violations.