Female sexuality is not the only catalyst Zola blames for the downfall of Second Empire society, but it is a subject about which he demonstrates extreme concern in Nana. Contemporary readers may not find this issue particularly salient, but the subject was prevalent in Zola’s lifetime: Sex work was popular in Paris, particularly for young unmarried women whose salaries for other types of work were low. (For more on the historical reality of sex work during this era, see the “Further Reading” section.) This phenomenon made people fear the unchecked spread of venereal diseases, leading French authorities to mandate sex workers to formally register with the state and then undergo mandatory health screenings when, like Satin in Chapter 8, they were rounded up by police.

In Nana, it is not just the possibility of disease that makes female sexuality frightening. Rather, female sexuality threatens to expose how thin the veneer of civilization that represses bestial and destructive desire really is. Indeed, throughout the novel, Zola portrays men and women as incapable of resisting Nana’s alluring body; the narrative shows that a strong enough sexual temptation effectively removes the free will and agency of even a devout man like Comte Muffat.