{{Infobox settlement | name = Bousbir | native_name = بوسبير | native_name_lang = ar | settlement_type = Red-light district | image_skyline = Les amies - Bousbir.jpg | image_alt = | image_caption = Entrance to the Bousbir | etymology = | nickname = | image_map = | map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Morocco Greater Casablanca#Morocco | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Casablanca | pushpin_label_position = | coordinates = {{Coord|33.57504|-7.6027507|display=inline, title}} | population_total = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Morocco | subdivision_type1 = City | subdivision_name1 = Casablanca | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_name2 = | established_date = 1924 | established_title = Opened | extinct_title = Closed | extinct_date = 1955 | length_km = 0.16 | width_km = 0.15 | dimensions_footnotes = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }} '''Bousbir''' ({{langx|ary|بوسبير}}, {{langx|fr|quartier réservé}}) was a walled-off brothel quarter in Casablanca, Morocco, established by Resident General Lyautey during the French protectorate.
==Origins== thumb|Typical postcard of an African prostitute Following the Treaty of Fez in 1912, Morocco became a French protectorate.
The French authorities were concerned about the spread of STIs, particularly syphilis, amongst the troops stationed in the protectorate. They set up ''quartiers réservés'' (red light districts) and prostitution was highly regulated and only permitted within the quartiers.<ref name="harries">{{Cite thesis |last=Harries |first=Alexander |year = 2016 |title= Faire le bordel: The Regulation of Urban Prostitution in Morocco |publisher= Oxford University |url= http://frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/forms/Alex%20Harries%20Faire%20le%20Bordel.pdf |degree=BA }}</ref>{{sfn|García|van Voss|Meerkerk|2017|p=261}}
==Relocation== Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident General of the protectorate, wished to rebuild and expand Casablanca. He engaged French architect Henri Prost to plan the new city.{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=179}}
Prost and his associates developed Casablanca's master plan from 1917 to 1922. Within this plan, Prost included a new ''quartier réservé'' away from the city centre.{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=179}} The area was to be run by a company named ''La Cressonière'', who owned the land, financed the building and would collect rents from the occupants.{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=183}}
In 1924 the red light district moved to its new location.{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=179}}<ref name="Staszak" />
==Etymology== Bousbir is the Moroccan pronunciation of the first name of Prosper Ferrieu, a French diplomat who owned the land the new ''quartier réservés'' was built on.<ref name="tibb" /><ref name="rol-benzaken" />
==Layout== The area was designed in a neo-moorish style by architect Edmond Brion to appeal to the orientalist taste of European visitors.<ref name="Staszak">{{cite news |url=http://viatourismreview.com/2015/10/varia-art1/ |title= Colonial tourism and prostitution: the visit to Bousbir in Casablanca (1924-1955) |last= Staszak |first= Jean-François |newspaper= Via@ Tourism Review |date= 15 October 2015 |access-date=2017-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017022350/http://viatourismreview.com/2015/10/varia-art1/ |archive-date=2015-10-17 }}</ref>
The area enclosed a rectangle 160 metres by 150 metres, surrounded by a high, windowless wall. There was a single public entrance.<ref name="Staszak" /> From the main entrance a wide street led to the main square (20 x 48 metres).<ref name="rol-benzaken">{{cite web |url=http://rol-benzaken.centerblog.net/7431-prostitution-coloniale-fran-aise-au-maroc |title= Prostitution Coloniale Française au Maroc |trans-title= French Colonial Prostitution in Morocco |last= Rol-benzaken |date=2015-08-02 |website= Souvenirs et Recit d'une Enfance à Rabat |language= fr |access-date=2017-10-11 }}</ref> Off the main street and square ran a labyrinth of alleys. Each of the alleys had a name that indicated the origins of the prostitutes such as Elfassiya Street, Doukkaliya Street, Lahriziya Street etc.<ref name="tibb">{{cite web |url=http://www.tlbbmagazine.com/bousbir-colonie-prostituees-dantan/ |title=Bousbir : Colonie des prostituées d'antan |last=Nawny |first=Amine |date=2017-01-24 |website=Tibb Magazine |language=fr |access-date=2017-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012045731/http://www.tlbbmagazine.com/bousbir-colonie-prostituees-dantan/ |archive-date=2017-10-12 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>
Bousbir included 175 residences, a cinema, a sauna, cabarets, restaurants, 8 cafés, numerous boutiques, a police station and barracks, a prison, and a dispensary.<ref name="Staszak" />{{sfn|Cohen|Eleb|2002|p=225}}
==1924–1955== At any one time between 450 and 680 prostitutes lived and worked there. They sold their sexual service to between 1000 and 1,500 visitors daily.<ref name="Staszak" /> Some came to Bousbir of their own free will, but about a third were brought there after being arrested for illicit prostitution elsewhere in the city.<ref name="Staszak" /><ref name="rol-benzaken" />{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=180}} Many were heavily indebted to the “madam” they worked for.<ref name="Staszak" /><ref name="rol-benzaken" />{{sfn|Maginn|Steinmetz|2014|p=183}} The minimum age for the prostitutes was 12.<ref name="rol-benzaken" />
The prostitutes had regular mandatory health checks<ref name="rol-benzaken" /> and were only allowed to leave once a week after gaining a permit from the police.<ref name="Staszak" /> Women and girls "working" in the area were subject to the inflexible authority of by French protectorate with almost no independence provided.<ref name="rol-benzaken" /> They weren't given any salary, and only shared tips given by the customers.<ref name="rol-benzaken" />
Tourists did not just visit Bousbir to purchase sex. It was designed to provide an 'oriental experience' for European tourists. They could sample the Moroccan cuisine, see belly dances, striptease or pornographic shows, or just sit on a terrace and watch the women solicit clients while listening to oriental music.<ref name="Staszak" />[[File:Bousbir_in_Qui_%3F_le_magazine_de_l'énigme_et_de_l'aventure_6_November_1947.jpg|thumb|Bousbir in the French magazine ''Qui ? le magazine de l'énigme et de l'aventure'' November 6, 1947.]] Picture postcards were available as souvenirs. Many were taken by French military photographer Marcelin Flandrin. He was influential in creating the stereotype of the "Arab African" prostitute: young, brown, exotic looking (to the European eye) topless and wearing robes or kaftans. Most of the photographs were carefully staged rather than being taken spontaneously.<ref name="tibb" />
Religious, feminist, socialist and anticolonialist factions put so much pressure on the colonial authorities that they closed the ''quartier réservé'' in April 1955.<ref name="Staszak" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|first1=Jean-Louis |last1=Cohen|first2=Monique |last2=Eleb|title=Casablanca: Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyLqAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Monacelli Press|isbn=978-1-58093-087-1}} * {{cite book |year= 2017 |editor1-last= García |editor1-first= Magaly Rodríguez |editor2-last= van Voss |editor2-first= Lex Heerma |editor3-last= Meerkerk |editor3-first= Elise Nederveen |title= Selling Sex in the City: A Global History of Prostitution, 1600s-2000s |publisher= BRILL |doi= 10.1163/9789004346253 |isbn= 978-9004346246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSQzDwAAQBAJ}} * {{cite book|first1=Paul J. |last1=Maginn|first2=Christine |last2=Steinmetz|title=(Sub)Urban Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GvnDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185|date=10 October 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-00833-8}}
Category:Red-light districts in Morocco Category:Neighbourhoods of Casablanca Category:20th-century military history of France Category:Military brothels Category:Military history of Casablanca Category:French Morocco Category:History of women in Morocco Category:Child sexual abuse in Morocco Category:Child prostitution Category:History of prostitution Category:Prostitution in France Category:Forced prostitution Category:Orientalism Category:French military scandals Category:1924 establishments in Morocco Category:1955 disestablishments in Morocco Category:20th century in Casablanca Category:Sexual abuse in the military