Women, Work and Prostitution in Victorian England Essay Example

a woman was sexually unfulfilled – the womb was said to be crowding other organs and causing tissue damage, suffocation and hysterical symptoms (Lind, Brzuzy and Inc NetLibrary, 2008).

Various measures were devised to “cure” hysteria, one of which was the surgical removal of the clitoris. Furthermore, the Victorian social environment was conducive to the “deterrence” of hysteria. Sofas were designed to prevent people from sitting closely together, while piano legs were draped to avoid the suggestion of human legs. Language was likewise restricted – the usage of words such as breast, leg or thigh was discouraged, even in the description of meat joints. Prostitution, venereal diseases, sodomy and masturbation were described using moralistic euphemisms such as “social evil,” “social diseases,” “crimes against nature” and “self abuse,” respectively (Heath and White, 2001).

Prostitution: A Secret Culture of Sex

The repressive stance of Victorian England regarding sex brought about the proliferation of prostitution. As premarital sex was strictly forbidden, men with sweethearts turned to prostitutes for instant sexual gratification. Married men, meanwhile, availed of the services of prostitutes because of the sexual dissatisfaction that they experience with their wives. In effect, having sex with a prostitute was a “lesser evil” compared to premarital sex and marital infidelity. Men involved themselves with prostitutions only for sex – they would still return to their wives or sweethearts afterwards.

Poor working Victorian women, meanwhile, viewed prostitution as their only avenue to economic and social liberty. As they were uneducated, the only means of employment that was open to them was menial labor. Despite the social stigma attached to it, many poor working Victorian women were drawn to prostitution because of its reasonably good

compensation. They can finally live on their own without the economic support of men.

The Victorian Harlot

According to Judith Walkowitz, “There is little to distinguish (prostitutes) from the large body of poor women who had to eke out a precarious living in the urban job market” (1980, p. 15). The migration patterns of Victorian-era prostitutes were very similar to those of the general population. Most of them were either natives of the city or had just recently migrated from the countryside. They usually came from working-class families and had taken on low-paying, dead-end jobs such as laundering and street selling before venturing into prostitution (Walkowitz, 1980).

However, most prostitutes in Victorian England did not fit the Victorian stereotype of the fallen woman. Majority of Victorian-era prostitutes were single women in their late teens. Their first sexual experience was at 16, often with men from their own social class. Most of them worked as maids. There were some who had illegitimate children (Walkowitz, 1980).

Victorian-era prostitutes had better health than other working women – the former did not have to endure long workdays to be able to eke out a living. In addition, the relatively large income of the Victorian-era prostitutes allowed them to enjoy a higher standard of living – they could afford clothing and their own rooms (Walkowitz, 1980). They likewise had enough money, as well as the freedom, to go to the pub. In Victorian England, the pub was an establishment that was forbidden to “decent” women, despite its being the center of Victorian social life (Finnegan, 2006).

This just goes to show that prostitution was the only means for working and lower-class Victorian-era women to attain

economic and social independence. As girls, they were pulled out of school early so that they could take care of their younger siblings while their mothers went to work. They enjoyed less free time than their brothers because of housework and were fed leftovers from their brothers’ meals. They also had to suffer the trauma of losing at least one parent due to death or abandonment (Walkowitz, 1980).

Such a strained family environment, along with abject poverty, made it easier for working and lower-class Victorian women to act against conventional norms by getting into prostitution. Aside from the social and economic freedom attached to it, Walkowitz argued that prostitution was the only way for them “to assert themselves and alter their lives in any other way” (1980, 21). But this form of rebellion proved to be futile and incongruous. Although prostitution granted working and lower-class Victorian women a given level of independence, it did not free them from penury and uncertainty (Walkowitz, 1980).

The Client

Despite Victorian England’s abhorrence of prostitution, it was considered as a “better alternative” to masturbation, rape, premarital sex or an extramarital affair. In addition, Victorian England’s emphasis on natural male sexuality entailed that men marry late and use prostitutes or lower-class women as an instant source of sexual gratification. Hence, as long as prostitution was in existence, the Victorian ideals of purity, chastity and sexual restraint were safe. Middle and upper-class women, the traditional epitomes of these virtues, can continue demonstrating their “moral superiority” over lower-class women (Brooks-Gordon, 2006).

Modern Babylon: The Dark Side of Victorian-Era Prostitution pleasure resorts and lowest in hardware towns, cotton and linen manufacturing centers, and woolen and worsted centers. This

pattern is supported by early-twentieth-century data on death rates from syphilis and parasyphilitic diseases: the highest death rates occurred among men of the unskilled laboring class, followed by men of the middle and professional classes, whereas the incidence of syphilis-related deaths was significantly lower among miners and textile and agricultural workers. (pp. 21-22)

This phenomenon can easily be explained. Ports and pleasure towns are characterized with limited employment opportunities for women, as well as a transient male population. As a result, men looking for instant sexual gratification while on holiday turn to women who are forced to become prostitutes to be able to afford one square meal a day. In sharp contrast, men (and most women) in textile and hardware areas have stable employment. Thus, they neither have the time nor the interest to get involved in prostitution (Walkowitz, 1980).

The Social Hierarchy of Prostitutes

In Victorian England, prostitutes were classified into “West End” and “East End.” West End prostitutes referred to those who serviced well-heeled clients. East End prostitutes, meanwhile, had to make do with a working or lower-class clientele. To increase their earnings, some poor prostitutes resided in brothels, where pimps regulated their income (Walkowitz, 1980).

Common Concern: Survival.

However, both West End and East End prostitutes were still caught up with the primary concern of survival. Brothels had no lockers in which prostitutes can keep their things – women, as a result, slept with their hats and clothes one for fear that they would be stolen. It was also not uncommon for prostitutes to engage in violent drunken brawls with each other over money and or clients. Although prostitutes were said to have strictly excluded young girls

from streetwalking, it was inevitable that their daughters became involved in prostitution as well. Most brothels also housed the children of prostitutes – older girls were sometimes employed in tasks such as fetching beer, opening the door and looking out for the police (Walkowtiz, 1980).

Notions of Respectability.

Prostitutes reflected a glaring difference between the idea of respectability of the poor and the middle class in Victorian England. While the middle-class associated respectability with sexual restraint, modesty and purity, the poor – particularly the prostitutes – defined respectability as being able to establish intimate and enduring connections with other people. Numerous historical accounts show that many Victorian-era prostitutes had regular customers, some of whom they settled down with. Sailors, for instance, not only received sexual services from prostitutes while they were in port – the latter also housed them, managed their finances and protected them from being victimized by unscrupulous lodging-house keepers and thief-prostitutes. The prostitute, in turn, achieves a quasi-marriage – the closest thing to Victorian respectability for her (Walkowtiz, 1980).

“The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon”: Shallow Melodramatic Propaganda

On July 4, 1885, Pall Mall Gazette editor W.T. Stead published the first part of the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, a four-part series that investigated the trafficking of girls in vice emporiums throughout London. To come up with the article, a “Secret Commission” (of which Stead was the “Chief Director”) was said to have spent four weeks conducting surveillance on London’s pubs and dance halls. The graphic “exposes” of the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon greatly influenced public opinion during the time of its release. However, Walkowitz (1992) dismissed the article as “one of the most successful

pieces of scandal journalism of the nineteenth century” (p. 81).

Trial by Publicity

The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon provided an explicit and detailed account of how “(poor) daughters of the people (were) snared, trapped, and outraged, either when under the influence of drugs or after a prolonged struggle in a locked room” (1992, p. 81). The article was sold using an aggressive advertising campaign. The Pall Mall Gazette created placards with “Five pounds for a virgin warranted pure” written on them. A hawker reportedly cried out to two 15-year-old girls outside the Charing Cross Station, “Come on Miss ‘ave a copy. This’ll show you ‘ow to earn five pounds” (1992, p. 82). Public outrage inevitably ensued – mobs of people were said to have rioted at the Pall Mall Gazette offices in an attempt to obtain copies (Walkowitz, 1992).

The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon likewise received criticisms from the different sectors of London society. Other publications dismissed it as “the vilest parcel of obscenity” (1992, p. 82). Unsympathetic members of Parliament claimed that the Pall Mall Gazette should be prosecuted because it violated the country’s obscenity laws. Indignant fathers, meanwhile, cancelled their subscription to the said publication for fear that the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon will have a negative effect on innocent family members (Walkowitz, 1992).

However, the article proved to be instrumental in the passage of The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. This law raised the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16, gave police greater power to prosecute streetwalkers and brothel-keepers and outlawed indecent acts between consulting male adults. The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon likewise resulted in the emergence of

a grassroots political movement that called for the eradication of vice and the imposition of a single standard of chastity on men and women. After Stead was released from a three-month prison term (he was incarcerated in Holloway Prison because of the article), this organization depicted him as a champion of social justice and social purity (Walkowitz, 1992).

Despite all the publicity associated with it, Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon was merely an exaggerated description of prostitution in Victorian England. Most of Stead’s claims in the article – including his alleged purchase of a young girl for five pounds – were indeterminate and unreliable. As a result, Walkowitz argued that the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon was simply used as a mouthpiece by the Victorian middle and upper classes to promote their suppressive approach to sexuality. For one, the article failed to mention that poor girls willingly turned to prostitution because of extreme poverty – they were not the “helpless victims” that Stead was trying to make them look like (Walkowitz, 1992). Furthermore, the article did not specify between promiscuous conduct and prostitution – many Victorian women did not consider themselves as prostitutes despite having sex outside of marriage in exchange for benefits such as food or clothing (Reagin, 1995).

Conclusion

Prostitution was another form of exploitation of women in Victorian England. It is true that Victorian-era prostitutes had an advantage, both economically and socially, over other working women. But the former earned their living by being passive victims of male sexual abuse. In effect, Victorian-era prostitutes perpetuated the patriarchal belief that women were to be bartered and sold as commodities.