Prostitution In The 1900's

The Great Depression brought about many changes in the early 20th century, starting around the stock market crash of 1929, brought on a time of uncertainty across the social- economic spectrum. Those who were heavily effected were the wealthy and business classes, then trickled down to the working class and those who were improvised. The United States, during the Progressive era, saw employment of not just men, but also women in urbanized regions and also some employment of different ethnicities. Following the crash, with a lot of employment being terminated, women and those not of Caucasian descent lost their jobs to men.

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

Most local governments had a laissez faire approach to prostitution and that motivated several social justice reformers to band together during the Progressive Era. Iowa became the first state to pass injunction and abatement laws in 1909. Again, state prostitution laws didn’t exist up until that point in history! Although, every state eventually followed suit by passing those same laws, which allowed police to shut down brothels as “public nuisances” as long as there were complaints from concerned citizens and the judge agreed with their opinion. Consequently, many cities began shutting down their red-light districts, but some notable cities such San Francisco, New Orleans, and San Antonio didn’t enforce the new laws.

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

Prostitution rarely ever seems to be a talking point among World War I historians. Many under the impression that discussion about such topics regarding life behind the front detracts from what happened during combat. However, this interpretation of history is rather unsettling since it silences a tremendous portion of WWI from readers who wish to understand more about its impacts on the life of soldiers and society. Wars are fought by people, therefore, they should be written about as such, rather than simply cannon fodder or a statistic for a particular battle. When we see a person, rather than a number, the impact of historical events hold much larger significance to us than they previously did before. Now, prostitution may not necessarily

Public humiliation has been around for years. It was always a controversial and terrible thing to do to a person. Being outlawed in the states during the 19th century there is a reason why this was banned. Public humiliation destroys a person emotionally.

It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,

The first thing that someone may think about when they hear the word prostitution is that it’s illegal but also dangerous. This is a completely fair claim to make, however if America legalized prostitution, it would be a completely different story. If there was to be a standard policy implemented that would ensure safety in all aspects, prostitution would no longer be viewed as a negative thing. Likewise, nobody would be forced into anything as opposed to those currently involved in the business. Prostitution in America should be legalized because if there was a standard policy, then there would be less health risks, no more danger for the girls involved, and regulations on the market.

Prostitution is a profession that has been around for centuries and has a majority of negative stigmas toward it. People of different genders and sexual practices have found jobs within this industry. They face problems within their line of work due to many areas having this profession marked as illegal. These legal restrictions breed further problems for sex workers ranging from health problems, work environment dangers, and tough economic situations. The idea of legalizing prostitution within the United States has been pitched as a solution to these problems. The negatives ranged from all prostitutes being drug addicts or that legalization of this profession would create many more problems than it would solve. Further examination of the claims for and against the legalization of prostitution nationwide show that the pros of legalization outweigh the cons. If legalized nationwide the sex industry would solve many problems for sex workers and others within the country.

Prostitution has underlyingly lingered in the history of the United States from the beginning of English settlements. In the industrial times, five percent of the population of women working were prostitutes. During the migration to the West, prostitutes were the majority- if not the only women in boom towns. Not until 1875, were there any laws officially banning prostitution. The Page law was created when Chinese immigrant women become prostitutes or second wives to European men. The law banned immigrant women from immoral purposes. Moving further in time, in 1949, a United Nations convention met in the purpose for the decriminalization of prostitution. Forty-eight countries decided to endorse it, the United States voted against it.

Some people in society deem prostitution and gambling as a burden on the nation. In the 19th century prostitution was suppressed by the rise of feminism and religious-based moralism in Protestant as an illegal and immoral act being perpetrated by immoral men and women. The passing of the federal Mann Act (1910) made it illegal to transportation women from state to state for immoral purposes and in 1915 all states outlawed brothels and regulated any profits being gained from prostitution. Gambling has been regulates since 1955 and was strengthen by the illegal gambling business act.

The rise of cities led to a lot of development in American society. Many people moved to the cities because there were more financial opportunities. Communities based on ethnicity sprouted all through the city and are still present all over the country today. Companies began building upward instead of outward to avoid paying large amounts for big plots of land and paying more property tax. Public transit was another new concept that came to be with trolleys and subways. Cities also saw the development of new power sources going from steam engines to water power to electricity. Different forms of leisure activities were established with the rise of cities such as the movies, amusement parks, and the Vaudeville theater where music and magic shows

There were many prostitutes during the Victorian era. Most were lower-class women, with the exception of the mistresses kept by upper-class men. According to Victorian standards, respectable women did not consider sexual intercourse pleasurable. It was their duty to be intimate with their husbands. Having affairs was disgraceful (Waters). Prostitutes, on the other hand, were sexually intimate with men because they enjoyed sex. Men enjoyed prostitutes because they could not enjoy their wives. Victorian femininity was not defined by sexual pleasure, while Victorian masculinity was defined by sexual pleasure and conquest.

In terms of sociology, Prostitution is a way for an individual to maximize their monetary intake or in other words “benefits” by selling the thing that they have readily, their bodies. In other words, it is the act or practice of participating in promiscuous sexual activity especially for money. Prostitution has been in existence for ages, going back to the Byzantine, Roman, Greek, and Egyptian Empires. Ironically, the ancient religions of those eras dealt with the needs of the group and consequently developed protocols for dealing with sexual relations that have propagated throughout time to the modern era. As a result, prostitution is not about to disappear anytime soon, despite relatively recent local laws. Also throughout centuries,

Before I entered this class, my imagination about what sociology is wasn’t of what it came to be after this class ended. First of all, before coming to this class, I didn’t know that prostitution was a social problem. I understand that being a prostitute is a sin, however I don’t think that a person should be punished by a society for being a prostitute. In other words, I thought that if a person is making money on his or her own body, it wouldn’t be a societal problem. Coming in this class, I have the knowledge that gay, lesbians or any other sexual orientation that isn’t heterosexuality was something that only exists in one’s mind and that if a person want to change their sexual orientation, he or she could. Therefore, in this class, after learning about sexual orientation, I accepted that people are born different and as society we should all accept that. Sexual orientation somehow I feel should require more large-scale intervention. In a lot places, LGBT people are discriminated. If God only created female and a male and that they only should be attracted to each other, let him only judge those whose feelings are different from what the bible states.