Chinese Prostitutes in the 1900s Essay

Describe the evidence that suggests that Chicago prostitutes engage in price discrimination. In addition, explain why it is possible for this particular instance of price discrimination to be successful.

Unaccompanied males migrated westward in the search for resources that led to a prosperous lifestyle otherwise called the Gold Rush. With the migration to the west set in motion, a disconnection from Eastern United States’ moral society composed of a male dominated culture. Within the male dominated society, females’ actions were dictated by men. The lack of connection to proper society and an open area of land with no laws aided prostitutes in finding work. While men of the era consider prostitution a shameful occupation, they also considered it a convenient outlet for release. Many of the concerns prostitutes had in the nineteenth century actually plagued prostitutes in the twenty-first, such as violence, rocky income, acceptance, and the

United States. In the 1800's prostitution made its way to the United States but, it was not common (Seals 2015). Prostitution was legal in the U.S up until the nineteenth century but it was heavily regulated (Elrod 2015). In 1870, St. Louis passed the "Social Evil Ordinance", which is the first law to be passed focused solely on prostitution (Carrasquillo 2014). The Social Evil Ordinance Act required a team of physicians to provide a health care option to prostitutes that treated women for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) (Elrod 2015). The United States noticed an increase in prostitutes in the 1900's and they were being taking advantage of and sold into sec slavery. A further law was put in to action in 1910 when the Federal Government

Prostitution, sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession” (Henslin, pg. 54), is defined by James M. Henslin as “the renting of one’s body for sexual purposes” (pg. 54). This arrangement, though illegal and socially deviant in most parts of the world, exists universally in many different forms (pg. 54). As a matter of fact, types of prostitutes range greatly in variety from call girls – who are said to be “the elite of prostitutes” (pg. 58), to streetwalkers – “who have the lowest status among prostitutes” (pg. 58), to sugar babies -young, physically attractive women who provide “rich, older men” (Kitchener, par.4) “…with attention (and sex) in exchange for the finer things in life” (par. 4).

Prostitution is defined as “business of exchanging sexual services for martial compensation or financial befits” (Weitzer, R. J, p8). The practice usually happens legally in modern cites like Vegas, Berlin and

As the arrival of the railroad in 1881 made its final stop in El Paso, Texas, the population of the city boomed with people from different places and with different intentions. A particular group of women came to the city to jumpstart a prostitution business to service the needs of the men that came with the arrival of the railroad and in return, the women would get money. Although Prostitution being the oldest profession, Madams Etta Clark and Alice Abbott had an impact on the profession, specifically as it proteins to the City of El Paso. The fierce business instinct that they both possessed, made them fierce, be loved, and respected at the same time.

In the early 1800’s industrialization of the northeast and other national endeavors such as railroads and road building required much manual labor. This vast manual labor job market opened the flood gates into the United States for immigrants seeking prosperity and a better life for themselves and their families. By the mid 1800’s many Chinese immigrants had made the voyage to the U.S. and sought work mainly in the factories of the prosperous northeast as well as the California gold mines. Culturally the Chinese people’s actions are motivated by the concept of bringing honor and respect to the family as a whole, and less concerned about individual successes or prestige, which resulted in Chinese immigrant’s willingness to do high quality work for long hours for very little pay. This was beneficial to the employer and company, but displaced many other immigrant workers which caused racial tensions. Chinese immigrants were accustomed to living in tight quarters, working together as families or community units and making do with what was available. These qualities assisted in the development of China Towns, housing and cultural centers for the Chinese immigrant population, near or in the large cities where their populations were greatest such as New York and San Francisco as. Many Americans viewed these China Towns as unsanitary and unhealthy brothels where prostitution and smoking opium was commonplace.

Chinese men began migrating heavily to California in the early 1850s in hopes of finding a fortune mining gold, these men, however, were largely unaccompanied by Chinese women (Hurtado 90). Out of 2,973 Chinese people in San Francisco, only nineteen of them were women. Chinese women came, just not with Chinese men. By 1960, there were nearly 600 Chinese women selling themselves in San Francisco, with less than 100 traveling for other reasons (Hurtado 91), White prostitutes also did not accept Chinese clients, though Chinese would perform services for Whites - indicative of the superiority felt by Anglos in relation to other races. Women of all races succumbed to prostitution, but races other than white made up the great majority of prostitutes (Hurtado 94). The

In Chicago, around the eighteen-hundreds, there was the desire for cheap labor. Consumer demand for clothes and manufactured products played a big part in this issue. The desire for manufacturers to meet the increasing consumer demand ultimately led to the hiring of children and other individuals. To reduce expenditures, working conditions did not play a major concern in the factory owners’ decisions. These factories were not very safe and sanitation was poor. Oftentimes many of these sweatshop workers were found working many hours a day for a long period of time with very little, if any pay. Florence Kelley was a factory inspector who fought against child labor and the existence of sweatshops. Through her experiences and descriptions, we

In the 1850’s, Chinese immigrants began entering California in search of gold and the California dream. They had heard that California was the new frontier, a frontier that would provide them with the opportunity for economic riches. Young and ambitious, many of these Chinese immigrants quickly married in their homeland and set out for the gold rush, promising to return (with wealth). Likewise, in the 1880s, when the state of California was undergoing rapid economic transformation, Japanese immigrants — just as young and ambitious as their Chinese counterparts — set out for America where they had heard the streets were “paved with gold.” But little did these Chinese and Japanese immigrants know that what they would discover in California

265). The movement’s attempts were to help control and prevent sexual abuse, in addition to abolish prostitution, while promoting abstinence to sex. Women of this movement focused their efforts on the “fallen” women within the society and the victims. Their efforts were noticed by actually “reaching out to prostitutes directly” (DuBois & Dumenil, p. 265)). It was a reform that not only focused on sexual aspects of life, but it was also important for health because all of the prostitutes were at risk for venereal diseases (DuBois & Dumenil, p. 267). For the women in the reform working against prostitution, they were faced with a major problem because the “glamorous prostitutes of San Francisco” were receiving a considerable amount of paid attention, even more than that of a working woman (DuBois & Dumenil, 2012, p. 267). Most of these prostitutes were working in hotels near the mines and were making one to two dollars per customer (DuBois & Dumenil, 2012, p. 265). The Moral reform was different from the other reform movements in that it was the only reform that was entirely composed and built on

“There Are Plenty Of Women On The Street” focused on how prostitution was widely practiced in Philadelphia, PA during the Progressive Era. This article divulged how an investigation into prostitution during 1910-1918 in the Philadelphia area revealed how common the practice of selling sex for money was. The investigators found prostitutes working in dirty and indecent houses, massage parlors, saloons, and brothels. The number of women found and arrested in and around these places amounted to over 3000. The large numbers of women were collected from three areas located in Philadelphia: the Tenderloins, Seventh Ward, and Market Street. The Tenderloins was situated near the north of Philadelphia’s business district and was considered to be where prostitution was more rampant out of the other two areas. “In short, the Tenderloins accounted for between 75 percent and 80 percent of arrests for streetwalking in the city” (Kahan). Market

Abel, Gillian, et al. Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers fight for decriminalisation. Policy Press, 2010. Part two: Implementation and impact of the Prostitution Reform Act (2003): the first five years: Review of the PRA

Human trafficking is prevalent throughout the world, especially in Asia and more specifically in China but the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) are taking measures to put an end to it. Human trafficking involves exploitation of human beings; either sexually or by coercing them to work in unfavourable conditions for little pay or nothing at all. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” Women and children, especially girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty constitute the majority of victims of human trafficking. “China is a source, transit and destination country

Prostitution is defined as the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been around since the beginning of human society. The first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). It is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with different ways to exchange sexual services for payment and many different types of prostitutes. One of these types of prostitutes are brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized or is legalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.