Post by Wolf Hallowsworth on Mar 19, 2004 17:54:35 GMT -5
Prostitution looms large in the Victorian consciousness. The image of the fallen woman reflects the Victorian upper classes' ideas about sexuality, gender and class. The prostitute is a staple of 19th century fiction. Debate about prostitution is also a reflection of cultural anxiety about urbanization.
Victorian ideas about fallenness create the ideological assumptions behind the creation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Through the control of sexuality, the Acts reinforced existing patterns of class and gender domination. They reflected an acceptance of male sexual license. The double standard allowed male access to fallen women and punished only the women.
The religious revival of the late 1800's named prostitution "the great social evil." Prostitutes inflamed Victorian class and gender anxiety as well as fears about the body, the exotic Other, and sexuality. The prostitute was the foil for the chaste middle class woman. She was labeled a public enemy.
Victorian cultural beliefs about the prostitute had that they were usually led astray by an upper class rake at a young age. They were not independent but worked for "bullies", the 19th century version of the pimp. Once a woman or girl had fallen (i.e. had pre-marital sex), she was essentially unsalvageable.
Middle class Victorian society insists that the fallen woman is a social outcast. While prostitution is not actually illegal at this point, the prostitute had little recourse against the whims of the community and its servants. "Step by step, how many wretched females, within the sphere of every man's observation have become involved in a career of vice, frightful to contemplate; hopeless in it's commencement, loathsome and repulsive in its course; friendless, forlorn and unpitied at its miserable conclusion" This is fairly standard Victorian attitude. The lurid language sadly lacking in sympathy; the absence of any practical suggestion for improvement; and the general assumption that one step on the downward path led to inevitable ruin are in strong contrast to the practical work Dickens did in trying to redeem fallen women
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The estimate of the number of prostitutes differs depending on who is doing the estimation. The Police Department claimed that there were 7,000 in London while the Society for the Suppression of vice that there were 80,000. Walkowitz claims that the Society's guess may be closer to the truth. In 1841 Greater London had a population of 2 million. According to Walkowitz, a 19th century city would commonly have 1 prostitute per 36 inhabitants, or 1 per 12 adult males, which would yield 55,000 prostitutes. Prostitution was not actually illegal in England.
London had relatively few brothels but did have rooming houses that tolerated prostitution in which they lived. Prostitutes were not rootless social outcasts as much as poor, yet independent, working women.
They were primarily young, single women, between the ages of 18 and 22. Their first sexual experiences were not extraordinary, usually serial monogamy within their own social class. Most had previously held low wage jobs, primarily as domestics (maids). Few supported illegitimate children. Their health was generally superior to other working women, who suffered under 14 hour workdays. They had a higher standard of living than others of a similar class background; they had money, clothing and could afford their own rooms. They also had access to the pub, which served as a center of social and political life, but was off limits to the virtuous woman. Prostitution offered the young woman more independence, economically and socially, than could otherwise be available to her.
The only condition that seemed to dispose a woman to prostitution was economic relocation. If a woman was separated from her community and then lost her job, prostitution may have seemed the most favorable option. Statistically, most prostitutes were from poor families and were 1/2 orphans, having one deceased parent. They would be expected to be able to support themselves as the family was rarely in a position to support them. It was becoming more common generally that young woman could be expected to be economically independent. They would have taken jobs that had forced them to relocate, generally to more urban areas, either because of family conflict or economic necessity.
Contrary to the Victorian literary myth of the fate of the fallen woman, prostitution was, and still is, a transitional occupation for primarily working class woman in their early 20's. As long as she had the choice as to when to quit, her future would not be appreciably limited. Most prostitutes would change occupations and "settle down", many marrying former clients.
They could be tolerated in the community. The social ostracization comes from the middle-upper classes, not from the laboring class. The lower classes were in fact more tolerant of sexual and social behaviors that the middle classes found incomprehensible. What are commonly thought of as the Victorian attitudes about sex differ according to social class; sexual norms of the working class were often quite different from those of the middle class
"If there were more like you there would be fewer like me" contradicts the prevalent idea that prostitutes provided a sexual outlet for middle class men whose wives had a well-bred contempt for sex. Victorian middle class ladies were thought of as untouchable guardians of morality. Victorian men weren't influenced by the same social pressures to curb their sexual desires. They would feel that they were doing their wives a favor by taking those desires elsewhere. "Herself the supreme type of vice, she is ultimately the most efficient guardian of virtue" (W.E.H. Lecky History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, 1869.) In addition, 19th century doctors claimed that sex was less harmful if carried out without love or passion. Sex with a prostitute would be less deranged than with a wife. For these reasons prostitution was thought of as a necessary evil
Victorian ideas about fallenness create the ideological assumptions behind the creation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Through the control of sexuality, the Acts reinforced existing patterns of class and gender domination. They reflected an acceptance of male sexual license. The double standard allowed male access to fallen women and punished only the women.
The religious revival of the late 1800's named prostitution "the great social evil." Prostitutes inflamed Victorian class and gender anxiety as well as fears about the body, the exotic Other, and sexuality. The prostitute was the foil for the chaste middle class woman. She was labeled a public enemy.
Victorian cultural beliefs about the prostitute had that they were usually led astray by an upper class rake at a young age. They were not independent but worked for "bullies", the 19th century version of the pimp. Once a woman or girl had fallen (i.e. had pre-marital sex), she was essentially unsalvageable.
Middle class Victorian society insists that the fallen woman is a social outcast. While prostitution is not actually illegal at this point, the prostitute had little recourse against the whims of the community and its servants. "Step by step, how many wretched females, within the sphere of every man's observation have become involved in a career of vice, frightful to contemplate; hopeless in it's commencement, loathsome and repulsive in its course; friendless, forlorn and unpitied at its miserable conclusion" This is fairly standard Victorian attitude. The lurid language sadly lacking in sympathy; the absence of any practical suggestion for improvement; and the general assumption that one step on the downward path led to inevitable ruin are in strong contrast to the practical work Dickens did in trying to redeem fallen women
Social Profile
The estimate of the number of prostitutes differs depending on who is doing the estimation. The Police Department claimed that there were 7,000 in London while the Society for the Suppression of vice that there were 80,000. Walkowitz claims that the Society's guess may be closer to the truth. In 1841 Greater London had a population of 2 million. According to Walkowitz, a 19th century city would commonly have 1 prostitute per 36 inhabitants, or 1 per 12 adult males, which would yield 55,000 prostitutes. Prostitution was not actually illegal in England.
London had relatively few brothels but did have rooming houses that tolerated prostitution in which they lived. Prostitutes were not rootless social outcasts as much as poor, yet independent, working women.
They were primarily young, single women, between the ages of 18 and 22. Their first sexual experiences were not extraordinary, usually serial monogamy within their own social class. Most had previously held low wage jobs, primarily as domestics (maids). Few supported illegitimate children. Their health was generally superior to other working women, who suffered under 14 hour workdays. They had a higher standard of living than others of a similar class background; they had money, clothing and could afford their own rooms. They also had access to the pub, which served as a center of social and political life, but was off limits to the virtuous woman. Prostitution offered the young woman more independence, economically and socially, than could otherwise be available to her.
The only condition that seemed to dispose a woman to prostitution was economic relocation. If a woman was separated from her community and then lost her job, prostitution may have seemed the most favorable option. Statistically, most prostitutes were from poor families and were 1/2 orphans, having one deceased parent. They would be expected to be able to support themselves as the family was rarely in a position to support them. It was becoming more common generally that young woman could be expected to be economically independent. They would have taken jobs that had forced them to relocate, generally to more urban areas, either because of family conflict or economic necessity.
Contrary to the Victorian literary myth of the fate of the fallen woman, prostitution was, and still is, a transitional occupation for primarily working class woman in their early 20's. As long as she had the choice as to when to quit, her future would not be appreciably limited. Most prostitutes would change occupations and "settle down", many marrying former clients.
They could be tolerated in the community. The social ostracization comes from the middle-upper classes, not from the laboring class. The lower classes were in fact more tolerant of sexual and social behaviors that the middle classes found incomprehensible. What are commonly thought of as the Victorian attitudes about sex differ according to social class; sexual norms of the working class were often quite different from those of the middle class
"If there were more like you there would be fewer like me" contradicts the prevalent idea that prostitutes provided a sexual outlet for middle class men whose wives had a well-bred contempt for sex. Victorian middle class ladies were thought of as untouchable guardians of morality. Victorian men weren't influenced by the same social pressures to curb their sexual desires. They would feel that they were doing their wives a favor by taking those desires elsewhere. "Herself the supreme type of vice, she is ultimately the most efficient guardian of virtue" (W.E.H. Lecky History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, 1869.) In addition, 19th century doctors claimed that sex was less harmful if carried out without love or passion. Sex with a prostitute would be less deranged than with a wife. For these reasons prostitution was thought of as a necessary evil