Industrial+Revolution+-+Prostitution

=THE IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ON PROSTITUTION=

By Allie Remsen
Prostitution existed in England long before the Industrial Revolution, but the conditions created by the urbanization and changes in society during the 1700s-1800s caused it to become a national problem. Brothels, or Whore Houses, had always been present in urban centers throughout England, but most men and women married young and began their families without living alone in cities for long. However, the Industrial Revolution lead women to need to work in order to support their families. The huge increase in population, urban poverty, and desperation increased the demand for prostitutes and the amount of women willing to degrade themselves for money.

Various bills and pamphlets expressing the public embarrassment of the increasing prostitution
 * ||~ ** BEFORE ** ||~ ** AFTER ** ||
 * ** family unit ** ||< * tightly-knit network of support with the core immediate family living and often working together
 * included the extended family
 * young people remained tied to parents
 * male role: professional or labor-intensive provider
 * female role: assisted with domestic work or simply around the house ||< * destruction of family structure due to the need for all members of urban families to take factory jobs
 * work is no longer hereditary and family members become very separated ➜ women couldn't rely on joining the family business and therefore turned to prostitution more than before
 * young people become more independent earlier, because they often do not work with their parents or even do the same thing ➜ without the close guidance of parents, young women were tricked into joining brothels
 * people got married later: without the support network of the extended family it took longer for young men to earn enough money to earn enough money to be able to provide for a wife and family
 * most young men (who would have already been married before) are single and unmarried but still have sexual desires ➜ increasing the demand for prostitution
 * delayed marriage often meant women fall into poverty. If a women didn't get married, there was no longer the extended family to go and live with ➜ prostitution was sometimes better than homelessness ||
 * ** role of women ** ||< * assisted their family in the family work
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">did the domestic jobs in the home
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">women were educated by their mothers for domestic tasks and how to be a wife/mother ||< * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">because they were independent early, women took jobs
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">factory jobs became available to women: factory managers often sexually abused/harassed their workers. women whose reputations were compromised (often by their employers) were “ruined” and no longer had a chance of getting married ➜ prostitution became a way to support oneself without a husband
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">women were still not widely educated, so they were limited to basic jobs ➜ prostitution required no knowledge
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">cult of domesticity becomes fashionable: only dead-end jobs become available to women, such as laundering, low-wage working, charing, and street selling
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">50% of prostitutes in England sold sex on top of their dead-end job in an effort to provide for themselves or their families ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">** religion ** ||< * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">most people are pious christians or catholics ||< * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">people are no longer as pious, and it became common for men to engage in sex before marriage ➜ increase in demand for prostitution ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">** population ** ||< * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">smaller population
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">balance between those who live in the countryside and the city ➜ more spread out ||< * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">huge increase in population
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">increasing amount of orphans and abandonment: children were often tricked into joining brothels and then feared running away lest their keepers report them to the police as illegal child prostitutes. The 1841 law that banned prostitution of minors actually made the children’s’ situations worse.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">increasing demand for prostitutes as urban conditions worsen
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">huge urban migration and expanding of cities
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">increasing urban poverty and poor living condition ➜ povery and desperation lead women to turn into prostitutes ||



Works Cited

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Anthropos. "The Contagious Diseases Acts." Comp. LES Selected Pamphlets. //JSTOR//. LSE Library, 1872. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/60240090>. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">British Museum Satires. "City Scavengers Cleansing the London Streets of Impurities!!" Cartoon. //London Lives 1690-1800//. London Lives, 1816. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.londonlives.org/static/AssociationalCharities.jsp>. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Digital image. Web. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">English Mother. "An Appeal to the People of England on the Recognition and Superintendance on Prostitution by Governments." Ed. Bristol Selected Pamphlets. //JSTOR//. University of Bristol Library, 1869. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/60245092>. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Mary Mallon in hospital. Digital image. //The Truth about Victoriana//. Lady Victorian Historian, 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://victoriantruth.blogspot.com/2008/07/serious-victorian-era-diseases-ranging.html>. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Select Committee. "A Bill Intituled An Act for the More Effectual Suppression of Bawdy Houses, and of Trading in Seduction and Prostitution." Comp. Hume Tracts. //JSTOR//. UCL Library Service, 1884. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/60204263>. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">"Statistics of Prostitution." //JSTOR//. American Statistical Association, Sept. 1895. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2967136>.