Fact Check: The Truth About 'Brothel Candles' Sex Workers Supposedly Once Used to Time Sex
Claim:
Viral claims have accurately reported that sex workers in the late-19th and early-20th centuries used small candles that burnt quickly to time their sexual interactions with clients.
Rating:
For a few years, several viral posts claimed that in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, sex workers in European and U.S. brothels used special candles to time their transactions with clients. The posts all published a picture of the candles and added in the post a version of the following:
https://www.facebook.com/museum.of.artifacts/posts/702320245263504/
This Facebook post had gained 57,000 reactions and 3,400 comments and was reshared 17,000 times, as of this writing. The claim also appeared on Reddit; on a forum of the Single Action Shooting Society website; and even on the sales website Etsy, as the description of a vintage item listed on it for 216 euros ($230 as of this writing). The description of the product, which was sold, also suggested that these candles, which lasted about seven minutes, were the origin of the game "seven minutes in heaven."
The story appears to have embellished the truth, however. According to historians, these "mini candles" of sorts did exist. They were wicks covered in wax that took a bit longer than matches to burn down and looked similar to modern birthday candles. However, the time they took to burn varied, according to different sources.
The website Fake History Hunter published in a post a Dutch newspaper clipping referring to these candles as "bougies de poche" (French for pocket candles) that lasted about seven minutes. A clipping from the book series "Le Dernier Mot de Rocambole" refers to these as "one of those English pocket candles that burn up to three minutes."
The author of the post asked the Deutsches Historiches Museum in Berlin what it knew know about this, and the museum account responded on X [archived]:
We see no explicit reference to a "brothel context". It is true that many such pocket candles are decorated with smiling ladies on the packaging - but there are also gentlemen in knight's armour and children. Presumably, it's more of a practical way to quickly light a candle.
— Deutsches Historisches Museum (@DHMBerlin) May 3, 2022
As evidence fails us, it is unlikely that these "pocket candles" were made specifically to time sex workers' sessions with clients, as clocks, watches, or even hourglasses would have been a cheap and far safer way to time transactions in brothels. Instead, these were mass-produced and probably used to light candles, or even just provide a bit of light in moments when burning a whole candle was not necessary.
We've reached out to a historian and will update this story if we receive a response.
Sources:
Cellania •, Miss. 'The Truth Behind Those Viral Brothel Candles'. Neatorama, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.neatorama.com/2023/03/03/The-Truth-Behind-Those-Viral-Brothel-Candles/.
Hunter, The Fake History. 'NOT Brothel Candles'. Fake History Hunter, 26 Feb. 2023, https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2023/02/26/not-brothel-candles/.
'Were "Brothel Candles" a Thing?' Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/10e0t6x/were_brothel_candles_a_thing/.
