Red Lights in the Wilderness

Abstract

The aim of this article1 is to try to find information on the everyday lives of women accused of prostitution in sparsely inhabited Finnish Lapland. This theme is a part of my research project “Women working their way through logging camps” which examines women in logging communities. Everyday lives of women are examined from three angles: First, their work in isolated homesteads taking care of children and cattle while husbands were away working in the woods for long periods of time; second, as cooks in the isolated camps among men; and third, as women on the loose, selling liquor and their company to lumberjacks. In this article the focus is on the third theme, prostitution.