Prostitution in the 18th century

Living conditions for women were harsh in the 18th century: if they weren’t part of the aristocracy or solid middle class, they had to struggle for life most of the time. Women belonged to the losers of the flourishing British economy in the 18th century, as they were not allowed to participate in it as men were. Working conditions as seamstresses or other manufacturing worker were harsh and positions as maidservants rare: prostitution was the only way to put food on their table and a roof over their head for many women. Some girls even got sold by their families to brothel-keepers because they needed the money instead of another mouth to feed. Also, next to acting, prostitution was the only way to climb the social ladder for women.

The use of the term “prostitute”

The term prostitute was used differently in the 18th century, compared to today. Any woman who had slept with a man that was not her husband could be called a prostitute in those days. Whether she had slept once with a man out of love (maybe even with a promise of marriage), slept with different men for money or committed adultery did not matter: this woman could be called a prostitute.

Types of prostitution

There were three types of prostitution: private mistresses, prostitutes in brothels and streetwalkers.

Private mistresses

Private mistresses were at the upper end of the food chain: they led a comfortable life paid for by their master and were socially not as cast out and vulnerable as other prostitutes because they paid taxes, lived in monogamy and also did not display their bodies in a way that might disturb the public.

Prostitutes in brothels

Prostitutes in brothels led a quite different life: they had to be very flexible about their customers and their services. While there were many brothels catering to the “ordinary” sexual desires of the customer, in the 18th century, the trend for houses offering special services (e.g. catering to homosexual desires of men and women, preference of a special type of woman and, most popular of all at the time, flagellation) came over to Britain from Paris. In contrast to the bawdy houses, prostitutes in high-class brothels were hand-picked by the Madam of the house and even trained to fulfil their customer’s every fantasy. Living conditions in brothels depended on the class they catered for and the “Madam” of the house, but overall they were better than the living conditions of the poor. The women would get food and drink, a place to sleep and clothes. In some of the upper-class brothels, prostitutes could even decide whether they wanted to serve a customer or not. As most of these houses were rather secretive, the identity and reputation of the women was safe from public wrath against prostitutes.

Streetwalkers

The majority of the prostitutes were streetwalkers. These were mainly poor women who needed money; either because their job did not pay enough to feed themselves and their children, they were currently between jobs, or they were not sufficiently trained to get better work. Most of the streetwalkers concentrated in the area around Covent Garden, where there were not only many brothels and houses for special sexual interests, but also many taverns with rooms to let. As there was a vivid nightlife going on there, it was the perfect place to look for customers. Unfortunately for these poor women, there were many of them flooding the streets with their services, so that prices were low. Most of them did not escape the struggle to survive and only barely had enough to eat and live, which was the reason many of these poor prostitutes also committed petty crimes.

Problems of prostitution

Many prostitutes suffered from venereal diseases, such as gonorrhoea, or even worse: consumption and other non-curable diseases. Condoms had already been invented, but were not that widely spread and not affordable to everyone – which increased the risk of getting a disease immensely.

Pregnancy was also a big issue for these women as most of them did not have enough money to get themselves through the day; getting a child was even worse. While condoms (if used) were meant to protect the man from venereal diseases the prostitute might carry, they were not thought of as a device to prevent pregnancy. There were, however, other methods and beliefs circulating: next to coitus interruptus, the rhythm method and saline douches, there was also the firm belief that women could only conceive if they orgasmed. Abortions were practiced already, though there are no records on how often as they were looked at as criminal (although they only became prosecutable offences in 1803).

The law also offered problems to prostitution. Not only was the lifestyle and sometimes behaviour of the prostitutes offensive to the public in the law’s eyes, but there were also measures taken against it. The Disorderly Houses Act of 1752 meant that any place (house, room, garden) that allowed music, dancing and other entertainments without a license was at the risk of being shut down. The licenses were, however, easy to get if you had the money or sexual assets to bribe the people in charge of giving them.

Prostitution and society

It cannot be said that there was a great increase in prostitution in the Britain of the 18th century. However, mentality towards sexuality changed, as can be seen in the literature of the time (e.g. Cleland’s Fanny Hill). It has to be mentioned though that sexual restraint, especially on the woman’s part was still the norm.

Reactions by the public

For the wide public, there were only two reasons for being a prostitute: either the woman used the profession to indulge in her own sexual pleasure or she sold herself to get money. Especially the middle classes, who wanted to separate themselves from the upper classes by virtue and morality, were against prostitution. There even were middle class “moral” societies who were concerned about the immoral state of the streets and arranged for raids of bawdy houses. Prostitutes found during these raids were then sent to different “corrective” institutions.

“Corrective” Institutions

Among these institutions was Bridewell: a prison designed only for prostitutes. The women were tortured, sometimes even mutilated, had to labour hard and were, on top of it all, fined. The Magdalen Hospital was another institution specifically for “repentive” prostitutes. The women were made to do laundry and do nothing but pray in the rest of their time. It was intended to re-socialize prostitutes and give them the opportunity to enter more respectable jobs (which were not always better paid). The Lock Hospital (established 1746) was specialized in curing venereal diseases. It was corrective in the sense that they only cured prostitutes once and not frequently, so that they would learn their lesson and stop selling themselves.

Interesting Trivia

Nudity was still something scandalous, most men and women simply wearing their undergarments or something similar to bed. Drawers for women were only fashionable from the beginning of the 19th century onward, and stockings were held in place by garters, so that pushing up the petticoats sufficed for penetration.

Next to acting, prostitution was the only way to climb the social ladder for women; if they had the prerequisites of beauty, charm and cleverness. Which happened in the case of the private mistress of the Whig leader Charles James Fox, Elizabeth Armistead: he married her after 10 years of living together (in 1796) and waited another 10 years to make it public.

Poem “The Whore” (1782) by Lady Dorothy Worseley:

Of all the Crimes condemn’d to Woman-kind

WHORE, in the Catalogue, first you’ll find.

This vulgar Word is in the mouths of all

An Epithet on ev’ry Female’s fall.

The Pulpit-thumpers rail against the WHORE

And damn the Prostitute: What can they more?

Justice pursues her to the very Cart,

Where for her Folly she is doom’d to smart.

Whips, Gaols, Disease – all the WHORE assail

And yet, I fancy, WHORES will never fail…

Yet Everyone of Feeling must deplore

That MAN, vile MAN first made the Wretch a Whore.

Sources:

Harvey, A.D. Sex in Georgian England: Attitudes and Prejudices from the 1720s to the 1820s. London: Duckworth, 1994.

Roberts, Nickie. Whores in History: Prostitution in Western Society. London: Harper Collins, 1992.

Rosenthal, Laura J. Infamous Commerce: Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2006.