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Prostitution: Then and Now
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/sex_work.shtml
When
thinking about trades that have been around for centuries
prostitution is not one that normally comes to mind yet it is
claimed to be one of the oldest of professions. People have very
different views on the subject of prostitution. Since
Mesopotamian times, attitudes surrounding prostitution have
evolved and changed many times from a celebrated necessity to a
cultural evil. The United States Victorian era (1840-1900)
experienced the same evolution of thoughts as their prostitutes
experienced empathy in the beginning of the century then utter
rejection towards the end. The twentieth century on through to
the twenty-first has kept the ideals of the latter Victorians.
American society’s outlook towards prostitution has not changed
in over a century and a half because the societal views and the
debate over a solution remain the same.
The
Bigger Picture
It is
important to note what came out of the movement to abolish
prostitution in the 1800s.The Victorian area was known for their
strict moral people who looked down on anything or anyone that
deviated from the social norm; most of society was against
prostitution. A new outlook surfaced among women towards their
own position in life, which lead to new organizations and strong
women leaders that are still looked up to today. Nineteenth
century feminists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet
Martineau and Margaret Sanger were inspired by the movement by
early feminists to start looking at prostitution not viewed in
the male terms but see women as victims of male society.
Victorian feminists saw women in prostitution not as the
horrible man-sucking vampires some Christians portrayed them to
be but as victims of men’s desire to keep women oppressed. These
new views lead to a growing change in the status and
aggressiveness of women in the nineteenth century.
Why
Victorian Women Became Prostitutes
Research
on prostitution was developing during the nineteenth century,
and Dr. William Sanger was one of the foremost researchers on
prostitution during this period; his work is still highly
esteemed due to its accuracy and depth. Sanger examined the
identity of the average prostitute and sought to understand why
she had turned to that lifestyle. He found that the majority of
prostitutes were in their late teens or early twenties; they
were usually illiterate, poor and from broken families (Bullough
243). Economic poverty,
societal disgrace, and lack of education were also causes of
girls turning towards prostitution; they had a limited number of
options available to them. Sanger asked several prostitutes why
they had turned to this way of life and they gave a number of
different reasons. For instance, some women had either been
expelled from their homes or deserted by their parents and found
prostitution the only way to support themselves. Other girls
were forced into prostitution in order for their families to
survive. Similarly, girls who had worked in domestics or
servants were forced into prostitution because they had been
seduced by their masters and then abandoned. On the other hand,
a number of women would turn to prostitution simply as an escape
from typical professions. Many of the girls expected to remain
prostitutes only until something better became available.
Immigrant women who had arrived to the country without money or
were brought into the country forcibly had only prostitution
open to them (Bullough 243). The conditions for women in the
Victorian period caused many young teenagers and women to turn
towards prostitution as a means of survival.
How
Industrialization Affected Prostitution in the Nineteenth
Century
Prostitution evolved into a highly visible, industrialized
business “with economic development, industrialization, and
urbanization in [the] mid-nineteenth century United States.”
(Barry 96) The industrialization increased the market demand for
prostitution because of an increased standard of living that
came with the new prosperity of the business classes. Women were
commercialized as “sexed bodies for hire” and “business stood to
profit from the rental of their properties for prostitution, and
‘illicit sex’ increasingly became an attractive form of capital
investment.” (Barry 97) With women facing these dire times, they
were hard-pressed to the bottom of the work force. The labor
market saw a decrease of women from domestic labor or work as
servants, seamstresses, or chambermaids and into prostitution
because of the developing sex industry. This did not hurt the
aristocracy because of the increase of male immigrants for labor
(Barry 97).
Societal
Views of the Victorians
Societal
views of the Victorians evolved from compassion to unbearable
hatred towards prostitutes. At the turn of the nineteenth
century there was a movement that took pity on prostitutes and
wanted to save them through religion. There were several
organizations including the New York Female Reform Society (Pivar
26) that offered help to them but only offered shelter to
prostitutes if they wanted to repent and turn to religion (Bullough
245). However,
prostitution was complicated issue because society did not find
it acceptable to talk about but they knew it was a problem (Berkin
140). It was not just a case of sinful or sick women but
society’s double standard and the male view of the functions and
duties of the female. Gradually reformers began to get
aggravated by the growing number of prostitutes and wanted the
industry stopped. Many girls were not just on the street but
could be found in houses that were run by former prostitutes. As
prostitution grew into a rapidly increasing industry, society
could not ignore these women but could not stop the men from
paying for their services. “The public accepted bawdy houses and
guides to the best whore houses that were available.” (Pivar 31)
A book known as the “gentlemen’s guide” became available after
the Civil War. Used by the merchant aristocracy and the upper
10th, who did not care about traditional morality, this guide
included the “better houses, giving addresses, benefits to be
gained from particular establishments and the names of favorite
prostitutes.” (Pivar 31)
Victorian
Solutions to Prostitution
Several
factors were involved in finding a solution to the rising
popularity of prostitution but all solutions tended to raise
just as many problems. There were two groups that dominated the
solution to prostitution: the abolitionists and the
regulationists. The abolitionists who consisted of reformers and
Christians wanted to completely wipe out prostitution and
educate children to steer clear of it. The abolitionists looked
to moral traditions and social concern, believing that
prostitution was the ultimate social evil (Pivar 33). When these
Christians did offer to help, it was through repentance. If the
prostitutes wanted to repent and turn towards God then they were
offered hospitality, if not they were cursed at and left alone.
Draw backs to the answer of banning prostitution concern the
cost of living; the prostitutes were in the business because
they needed money to survive. The solution favored by
abolitionists offered the prostitutes no other alternative means
of living (Bullough 245). The other alternative resolution was
to legalize prostitution. The police and physicians who
supported regulation or legalization of prostitution were not
moved by religious enthusiasm towards moral purity but more
concerned with realistic matters of controlling venereal
diseases, sanitation, and crime (Pivar 33). Although the
military and medical community wanted to regulate prostitution
supposedly because of the diseases, they did not deal with them
very effectively. Police abuse was already an issue and to
regulate prostitution would only give them more power (Bullough
245).
Why
Women of the Twenty-first Century Become Prostitutes
In the
twenty-first century (1980-2001), women are prostitutes for many
different reasons and these roots of prostitution are similar to
the reasons women became prostitutes in the Victorian age. Some
women move into prostitution due to economic needs like poverty,
emotional neediness and susceptibility to pressure from friends;
few women listed only one main reason for entering into the
profession (Scambler 7). Some prostitutes’ explanation for
becoming involved in prostitution include “having a history of
sexual abuse, having grown up without love from the significant
adults in their lives, being enticed by a male of female friend
or by peer pressure from a group of friends, and needing money.
Those who used drugs prior to their involvement in prostitution
activities mention their addiction as a major reason for trading
sex for money or drugs.” (Sterk 35)
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How
Present Day Society Perceives Prostitution
American
societal views on prostitution have not changed in the
twenty-first century since the 1800s. Prostitution is still seen
by contemporary society as a crime against morality (Scambler
7). Many people today still have an extremely negative
connotation when the words ‘hooker’, ‘prostitute’, and ‘whore’
are applied to women who sell sex for money. Stereotypically,
these women are seen as trash; these are individuals who have
sexually transmitted diseases and people with no morals or
respect for their bodies. Currently women working as prostitutes
are perceived as bad girls, disregarding norms of acceptable
behavior, suffering the ‘whore’ label, and “increasingly
criminalized by the state, policing practices, and the lack of
effective action taken by the state to address male violence
against women.” (Scambler 3) Although these perceptions are held
by many educated, scientific and government minds, the public
has conflicting views about prostitutes because of the
importance the media plays into everyday life. The prostitute
has been portrayed to society in many alternative forms: “as a
symbol of cultural and moral decline, an innocent victim of male
lust, a public health nuisance and even a cinematic heroine.” (Stolba
2000) There are numerous opinions and attitudes about
prostitutes and the industry remains in business because society
has allowed the institution.
The
Debate Continues Today
To
legalize or not to legalize continues to be the question at hand
in the modern era. Abolitionists and regulationists are still
debating which solution is better for the government, society
and the women of the business. Abolitionists leading the reforms
today are still social and religious conservatives. Their main
points for prostitution to remain illegal include that
prostitution undermines the social institution of marriage and
exploits women as well as poisoning the country’s moral climate
(Stobla 2000). They argue that “prostitutes are desperate women
whose judgment is clouded by the unjust economic deprivation in
which they find themselves… The choice of prostitution is not an
authentic one.” (Stolba 2000) Prostitution is firmly implanted
in American culture and instead of trying to eradicate it, all
reformers can do now is try and keep prostitution illegal. The
most vocal advocates of prostitution legalization are sex
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Final
Thoughts
“For
generations if not centuries, the causes and consequences of
prostitution have rested on women. However, as there would be no
prostitution without market demand, there would be no
industrialization of sex without commodity consumption.” (Barry
162) In the Victorian period, women were blamed for prostitution
because it was not the men’s fault they were being seduced by
the evil temptresses but the women were to blame. Victorians’
ideals of social purity and morality contrasted with "dire
economic poverty for working class and underclass women involved
in a prolific sex-for-sale market." (Scambler 3) In the
twenty-first century, prostitution and other sex work is one of
the most thriving industries internationally. Although still
viewed morally wrong, women who sell sex are still allowed to
continue their trade. The fact is sex work is an exceptionally
lucrative market and prostitution will only continue to grow
internationally. Why has prostitution been allowed to continue?
The answer is simple: men.
Bibliography:
Barry, Kathleen. The
Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: New York University Press,
1995.
Berkin, Carol Ruth and Mary
Beth Norton. Women of America A History. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1979.
Bullough, Vern and Bonnie
Bullough. Women and Prostitution, A Social History. New York:
Prometheus Books, 1987.
Pivar, David J. Purity Crusade
Sexual Morality and Social Control, 1868-1900. Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, Inc., 1973.
Scambler, Graham and Annette
Scambler. Rethinking Prostitution, Purchasing Sex in the 1990s.
London: Routledge, 1997.
Sterk, Claire E. Tricking And
Tripping, Prostitution In The Era Of AIDS. New York: Social
Change Press, 2000.
Stolba, Christine. “The Newest
Dilemma About the Oldest Profession.” Women’s Quarterly. Autumn
2000, Vol 26.
“The Sex Business”. Economist.
February 14, 1998. Vol 346, Issue 8055.
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