Editorial Masculinity and the Sex Work of Print

This volume recovers early scandals of sexuality shaping the underground press in antebellum New York. In 'racy' newspapers, periodical editors used the form and content of their publications to curate, create, and circulate new ideas about emerging and established social forms, including sexual expression and intimacies. Editors reported obsessively on female sex workers' outspoken performances, wavering between the lurid fascination of exposé and the urge to celebrate singularly compelling and disposable women. This study contends with the uneven archiving of these scandalous materials, focusing on The Broadway Belle and Mirror of the Times (1855), edited by notorious “city mysteries” novelist George Thompson. This volume follows boasting performances of masculine potency and editorial proficiency. Sections chart the rise of personal mythologizing and self-reflexiveness as lingering conventions of professional editorship long after the racy papers faded away. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.