The previous chapters have shown how wider socio-economic changes, especially developments in technology, commerce and entertainment, were as important as policing policies in shaping the ways in which prostitution was organised, controlled and experienced in Scotland during the early part of the twentieth century. A crucial element in all of this was the opening up of new opportunities for clandestine prostitution. By examining a particularly detailed court case relating to the Kosmo dance club in Edinburgh, this chapter will explore the role that dance clubs played in the development of new sites for clandestine prostitution and examine what influence this environment had on the experiences of the women who worked there. As we have seen, the experiences of women who sold sex are difficult to access and this is particularly true for those who worked clandestinely. The Kosmo trial, however, provides a rare glimpse of the ways in which these women negotiated the considerable dangers posed by this new environment and tells us more about the lives of women who were less likely to come to the attention of the police. The first half of the chapter will explore how various clandestine forms of indoor prostitution were organised and how these networks facilitated new methods for selling sex. The second section will focus on the experiences of women who worked at the Kosmo dance club and examine their relationships with the men who managed and frequented the club.

Clandestine Prostitution in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Whilst the previous chapters have primarily focused on prostitution that occurred on the street or in brothels, these were not the only locations in which prostitution took place. By the 1920s and 1930s new forms of indoor clandestine prostitution were occurring in ice-cream parlours, fish-and-chip shops, coffee shops and dance clubs. It was believed that the rooms above or behind these shops were used for prostitution and that these venues particularly attracted young women who were vulnerable to the advances of the ‘immoral types’ who owned and frequented these places. It was assumed that, once seduced by these men, the women would then engage in prostitution there. The venues that were most commonly singled out for suspicion were shops run predominantly by minority groups, especially the Italians who owned ice-cream parlours and fish-and-chip shops.