Wolfenden's Women is a carefully crafted volume of excerpts (mostly) from the evidence given to the Wolfenden committee when it inquired about sexual practices in postwar Britain. As Samantha Caslin and Julia Laite, both experts in the history of British prostitution in the twentieth century, underline, the Wolfenden Report is mostly known for its influence on the decriminalization of homosexuality in Britain by defining homosexual practices as private matters (see the companion volume of Brian Lewis, Wolfenden's Witnesses: Homosexuality in Postwar Britain, 2016). But the Wolfenden committee, headed by Sir John Wolfenden, was first and foremost tasked by the Home Office to study the effects of prostitution on the British streets (mostly London) in the postwar era, and its recommendations regarding prostitution have had more immediate tangible legal and personal consequences than have its recommendations regarding homosexuality.

The book is organized into twelve chapters, including an introduction to the methodology and an engaging conclusion. The introduction provides the legal context surrounding prostitution since the Victorian period and broad information about the Wolfenden committee, its aims, the evidence collected, and the witnesses called upon. Caslin and Laite also tackle in the introduction the main characteristics (flaws?) of the committee, which was formed in 1954 and sat for sixty-two days: the “overall maleness” of the committee (15); the fact that evidence was given only upon invitation (in most cases); the focus set on London; and the committee members’ propensity to apply their gendered expectations onto the testimonies given by witnesses.

Caslin and Laite carried out a thorough work in the memoranda of evidence and shorthand notes of the interviews to collate information about eight themes, themes that were either explicitly or implicitly covered by the evidence and testimonies of the police, magistrates, and members of the civil society and professional associations. These excerpts form the core of the book, but each theme, and its implications for the bigger picture, is introduced by a few pages. For example, chapter 2 deals with prostitution and the public space, underlining the contrast between the views of the witnesses, who were against pushing women out of the street, and the Wolfenden committee's eventual recommendation to prosecute soliciting more harshly by suppressing the need to prove that annoyance occurred. Chapter 3, “Beyond London,” highlights how witnesses from cities other than London downplayed prostitution in their area, even though other sources point to the contrary. The chapters “Policing” and “Law, Jurisprudence, and Punishment” unveil the amount of discretion held by the police in prosecuting prostitutes, while excerpts of magistrates’ interviews reveal the social consequences of labeling women as “common prostitute.” This denomination alone often discredited women's testimonies before they could defend themselves. Chapter 6, on the off-street locations of prostitution, reveals complex arrangements between women and third parties, “as well as the confusing legal system that operated” (123) regarding what was considered a brothel. Linked, at least in the mind of the witnesses if not in those of the committee members, with the privatization of prostitution, the role of third parties in exploiting women was pushed aside by the committee, as was the question of the “demand” (chapter 9). All the acts inspired by the committee report were ultimately targeting only women: third parties and customers were ignored. In chapter 8, “Causes, Intervention, and Pathologization” it becomes clear that it was difficult for the witnesses to understand why, in the era of progressive Britain and welfare state, women would still prostitute themselves.

Caslin and Laite included a chapter (10) filled with excerpts from other, external sources. Titled “Wolfenden's Missing Women,” this chapter is composed of extracts from the autobiography of a woman who sold sex in London, and of statements by social workers, notably members of women's organizations, who had been sidelined by the committee. Chapter 11 reproduces the articles in the committee's report that mentioned prostitution directly. I would suggest that the reader start with this chapter, to understand how much information was left aside in the making of the Wolfenden Report, whose impact on the make-up and practices of prostitution has been so great.

Caslin and Laite's choice of excerpts brings a lot of nuance to the Wolfenden Report and highlights the differing opinions about prostitution and women selling sex. These excerpts also show how much discretion the police had, over the years, to prevent women from being fined, and how social workers, lawyers, and members of the penal system interacted, sometimes positively, with women who practiced prostitution. Caslin and Laite's insistence on the “missing women” (30) is particularly illuminating.

As a result of the Wolfenden committee's recommendations to change the law regarding solicitation (284), women selling sex had little choice but to move in to individual premises, where they could become more isolated and more likely to be exploited. Many interviewees underscored the risks faced by women if they were to be pushed inside. But the risks faced by women, the role and responsibility of customers, the dangers of stricter legislation in relation to the women's welfare, and, more importantly, the experiences of women selling sex as told firsthand are all topics that were neglected or consciously avoided by the committee.

On a practical level, although I recognize the value of Caslin and Laite's book, especially to disentangle the making of such a significant report, I would be hesitant to recommend it to students, as the contextualization surrounding these primary sources and their relevance is not always clear. The glossary at the end is very useful in providing more information about the witnesses, but the lack of footnotes and explanations in the excerpts themselves sometimes leaves the reader a bit lost. It is also difficult to judge how much of the memoranda of evidence and the shorthand notes were left aside by Caslin and Laite, what the chosen excerpts really represent compared to the total amount collected, and how these excerpts fit with the witnesses’ general views on prostitution.

That being said, this volume remains an essential reading for those wanting to know more about prostitution and the opinions surrounding it in liberal Britain. By making these sources available, Caslin and Laite give a much more nuanced picture of what the police, the magistrates, the civil society, academics and social workers thought of prostitution at the time, than what a study limited to the Wolfenden official report could have ever offered us.