Nora M. Lehner

Porträt von Nora Lehner

Contact

Nora Lehner is a social and gender historian. She studied Dutch Studies (BA), History and American Studies (Mag.a  phil.) at the university of Vienna. As a doctoral candidate, she investigates the sexual labor of women in Vienna from 1945-1974 with a focus on the interplay between police regulation, women’s lived experiences, and the evolving sexual geography of the city. Her research explores the agency of women involved in sexual labor, alongside the institutional and societal frameworks that shaped their choices. Supervised by Franz X. Eder and Johanna Gehmacher, her dissertation has been recognized with the prestigious Theodor Körner Förderpreis (2022). Her academic journey includes research residencies at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., and Temple University in Philadelphia. Currently, she is a Marietta Blau fellow at Freie Universität Berlin. Beyond her academic work, she collaborates with the wasbishergeschah team to bring historical research to a wider audience via TikTok and Instagram, making complex historical narratives more accessible to the public.

Research interests: Women’s and Gender History; History of Sexualities, especially Sexual Labor/Prostitution; Discourse Analysis, Cultures of Memory and Memorial Pedagogy; Public History

Current research project: Sexual Labor in Post-War Austria (1945-1974)
In Western societies, discussions around sexual labor have often been used as a tool to regulate sexuality and sexual behavior. Building on this idea, my dissertation uses sexual labor and sexual transactions as a lens to explore the processes of social normalization that took place during the first four decades following World War II. My research examines how Austrian post-war society transitioned from the extraordinary circumstances of the war and its immediate aftermath to a perceived “normalization” – from the economic boom of the 1950s to the sexual liberalization of the 1970s. The focus of my analysis is on the key actors within urban commercial sexuality, particularly women who sold sexual services, their experiences, strategies, and the constraints they faced, alongside the role of the police in regulating prostitution and shaping perceptions of it. During the period under review, the sale of sexual services was regulated by an extensive, often vague, and heavily gendered legal framework. Married women and non-Austrian citizens were excluded from this system, while those who repeatedly violated prostitution regulations could be sent to workhouses. Additionally, I also investigate how discourses around (sexual) labor, ideals of femininity, and normative sexuality were intertwined and influenced by broader societal changes, as well as how sexual labor and (street) prostitution were perceived by the urban public. In doing so, I reveal both ruptures and historical continuities in the political and social approaches to sexual labor.

Publications (selection):

  • Editorial. Applying “Knowledge Circulation” in Historical Research, in: Motions of Knowledge – Knowledge in Motion/Bewegungen des Wissens – Wissen in Bewegung, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften 3/23, Bd. 34, 7–20 [mit Lisa Hoppel & Florence Klauda].
  • „Auch diese üble Erscheinung hat im Laufe der letzten Jahre eine Wandlung erfahren“ – der „neue Zuhältertyp“ als (Sicherheits-)Problem im Wien der 1960er Jahre, in: Moderne Stadtgeschichte, Stadtrevier. Polizei und Sicherheit in urbanen Räumen, 2/2023, 101–120. [peer-reviewed]
  • Über Körper, Geschlecht und Begehren Sprechen: Geschichte der Sexualitäten vom späten 18. bis ins frühe 20. Jahrhundert, In: Anna Jungmayr/Bezirksmuseum Josefstadt (Hg.). „...Vor Schand und Noth gerettet“?!: Findelhaus, Gebäranstalt und die Matriken der Alser Vorstadt. Wien: Bezirksmuseum Josefstadt, 2021. 121c136.
  • „[…] so muss und kann auch das sexuelle Gefühlsleben des Weibes kein so wesentlich anderes sein als das des Mannes“ – Zur Diskursivierung der weiblichen Sexualität in ‚Das Geschlechtslebens des Weibes‘ (19016) von Anna Fischer-Dückelmann. In: Virus. Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte der Medizin 18. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2019. 149–186. DOI: doi.org/10.1553/virus18s149 [peer-reviewed].