In the second half of the nineteenth century prostitution in the Netherlands becomes more and more loaded with meanings about femininity. In this article author first describes the state policies on prostitution. Then she investigates the feminists' opposition to these policies and in the course of this process creating their own theories about sexuality, the state, and the 'origins' of and the 'solutions' to the prostitution question. In the last section a discussion of the feminist legacy from the past and the re-emergence of prostitution politics during the so-called second wave.