Sex Work in the Klondike Gold Rush
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
06/23/26
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Why on earth would anyone make a perilous journey across wilderness and snow covered mountains, all because of a bit of gold?
This isn't Lord of the Rings, it's the Klondike Gold Rush, when an estimated hundred thousand people made the journey across Alaska to goldfields in the Klondike region, Canada. Among them, women.
But why did women make this journey? How much of their work was sex work?
Kate is joined by Brian Castner for this episode about life in the Alaskan Gold Rush. Brian is the author of ‘Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike’.
This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
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All music from Epidemic Sounds.
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Previous Episode
Mata Hari was a dancer and courtesan who was executed in 1917 for being a spy during the First World War.
How did she get involved in such dangerous business? Was she really a mastermind spy who used her sexuality to gain intelligence? Or a scapegoat whose sexuality was used against her?
In our new mini-series, Supersluts of History, we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them.
Joining Kate today is Professor Julie Wheelwright, author of The Fatal Lover: Mata Hari and the Myth of Women in Espionage. Find out about her upcoming talk about Mata Hari here.
This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
You can take part in our listener survey here.
All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
Around 18 minutes says "letters published in 1917" which is wrong, it's 2017.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WtevPqsQ9ecjK2BrXnbFsudhYHzJU6hB
I’ll be speaking about Mata Hari at the Society for Intelligence History conference at King's College, London, in October.
And about Martha McKenna, the Spy Who Fooled Churchill at Bletchley Park in October.
https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/nihc/
Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
You can take part in our listener survey here.
All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards! UK & Ireland listeners please place your vote on the Spotify mobile app here: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Marlene Dietrich was unapologetic in her love of sex, and she had a lot of it.
She took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and slept with some of tinsel town's most famous men and women.
What made her so unique and create such a legacy? As a sexually liberated German woman what did the Nazis make of her? And did she really sleep with JFK and his father?!
This is the final instalment of our mini-series, Supersluts of History, where we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them. Have we saved the best til last?
Joining Kate for this episode is author and journalist Mick LaSalle.
This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
You can take part in our listener survey here.
All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards! UK & Ireland listeners please place your vote on the Spotify mobile app here: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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