Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State

by Judith R. Walkowitz

The state regulation of prostitution, as established under the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869, and the successful campaign for the repeal of the Acts, provide the framework for this study of alliances between prostitutes and feminists and their clashes with medical authorities and police. Prostitution and Victorian Society makes a major contribution to women's history, working-class history, and the social history of medicine and politics. It demonstrates how feminists and others mobilized over sexual questions, how public discourse on prostitution redefined sexuality in the late nineteenth century, and how the state helped to recast definitions of social deviance.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Victorian, British Literature, 19th Century, Academic, Feminism

360 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1980

Reviews

[Nikki Glassley · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading Call the Midwife, I came across multiple mentions of the Contagious Diseases Act. The information presented by Jennifer Worth was compelling, so I sought out more information. Walkowitz's work is well written and accessible, especially for an academic text. I enjoyed it but it focused primarily on the passage and the repeal of the Act, which isn't quite what I was after. I'll have to look elsewhere for information on how it impacted the lives of prostitutes and working class women.

[Jamie Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspector Silas Anniss can get in the bin.

Amazingly thorough and expansive. As a personal and political history of the Contagious Diseases Acts, I have yet to find a better book. From deep analyses of the law-making to the social lives of prostitutes, Walkowitz covers basically everything without sensationalism.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful study of prostitution in Victorian Britain. The structure works well, first explaining the realities of prostitution and its standing in society, then going into the Contagious Disease Acts and how they changed that reality. My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that the author repeats herself a bit too often for my taste. Other than that, the book is very clearly written and makes a convincing argument.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. For any one interested/ researching the topic I'd definitely recommend it. It primarily explores the Contagious Diseases Acts and the movement for their repeal, and I found the writing both fairly balanced and accessible. You won't learn much about the prostitutes themselves from this text, but it is great in showing the public discussions around prostitution at the time.

[Grub Street Hack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prostitution and Victorian Society explores the impact and response to the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866, and 1869 in Victorian England, focusing primarily on the districts of Plymouth and Southampton. These regulations are described as an attempt by the state to prevent the spread of sexually contagious diseases—including Venereal Disease, gonorrhea, and syphilis—among enlisted British military personnel backdropped by Victorian concepts of gender norms and labor concerns of the industrialized working class. The laws attempted to curve the spread of contagions by identifying prostitutes and submitting them to regular “internal examinations.” Notably excluded from this process are the men who participate in the solicitation of prostitutes. In response to the Contagious Diseases Acts, an unlikely alliance between middle-class women and working-class men formed in an effort to repeal these laws. Ultimately, the goal of this coalition was reached in 1886, but it occurred in the context of “social-purity crusaders” and police actions that sought the end of brothels and solicitation.

The contributions made by Judith Walkowitz in Prostitution and Victorian Society are many. First, she explains the timing of the Contagious Diseases Acts as a product of “increased official concern over prostitution as a dangerous form of sexual activity, whose boundaries had to be controlled and defined by the state” (3). Her point is that, although the acts may have started as limited measures meant to improve sanitary conditions, it transformed into an expansive program of social reform. This change was spurred by civilian politicians and doctors who advocated for an extension of the acts into the north. Second, Walkowitz argues that by “treating registered women as denatured social outcasts and by allowing male clients, doctors, magistrates, and police access to and control of the female body,” state regulation of prostitution served to institutionalize social prejudices that viewed women sexual objects (128). Yet, Walkowitz also reveals a plurality of subcultures, including those that view prostitutes as “the victims of male pollution, as women who had been invaded by men’s bodies, men’s laws, and by that ‘steel penis,’ the speculum” (146, author’s emphasis).

In order to shift public opinion against the Contagious Diseases Acts, repealers, like Josephine Butler, actively participated in a propaganda campaign. Regulationists were publicly condemned as “terrible aristocratic doctors,” speeches were made that attempted to persuade audiences towards fervor directed against the specter of the vaginal speculum, and pamphlets were written that linked medicinal practices to power over women. These examples are provided by Walkowitz to demonstrate the methods of resistance by feminists, and their awareness of and fear for the power exhibited by medical experts.

Walkowitz uses a Foucauldian framework to describe prostitution in Victorian Britain. She uses Michel Foucault’s concepts of a “technology of power” and a “science of sexuality” to explain how the Contagious Diseases Acts acted as a means “to oversee and manipulate the social lives of the unrespectable poor” (4). In other words, the state wielded its power in an attempt to control the lower classes of society so that their behavior conformed with scientifically-justified Victorian expectations. Concepts of gender and class are also artistically intermingled in this story. Walkowitz effectively illustrates the power dynamics between gender and class through her portrayal of wealthy male politicians scrutinizing and passing regulations on lower-class women while largely ignoring the lower-class male population that participated in acts of prostitution. Additionally, the dynamics of these overlapping concepts are seen in the resistance to the Contagious Diseases Acts as middle-class women and working-class men form a political alliance. Furthermore, Walkowitz brilliantly describes class conflict within gender as middle-class feminist repealers come into contact with unrepentant prostitutes who wish neither to be reformed or rescued.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd previously read part of Walkowitz's CITY OF DREADFUL DELIGHT, which made for fascinating reading, so I took a look at this companion volume and was equally impressed. PROSTITUTION AND VICTORIAN SOCIETY provides a through case study of Victorian attitudes towards prostitution, focusing on metropolitan areas in the second half of the 19th century, and the effect of the various Contagious Diseases Acts upon the profession. Much of the discussion explores the efforts of reformers such as Josephine Butler to repeal said acts, and some intriguing characters emerge. Much of the material proves grim and sometimes shocking, with memorable quotations and statistics neatly woven into the text. It's an excellent study.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This heavily-researched book is nearing 30-years-old and it's still the most comprehensive work on the topic. It's dense in detail, maybe a bit too much so for the casual reader, but Walkowitz's ability to collect and analyze likely obscure data is impressive. She also does an excellent job of drawing parallels between the historic issues around labor politics, socioeconomics, and gender; the lessons she finds are still relevant for today's society. A must-read for anyone interested in public health, women's issues, Victorianism, and the historic (and current!) state/religious/social control of bodies.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

well structured and engagingly written

[Andrea Samorini]

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FROM BOOK: Vendere e comprare sesso (Giulia Garofalo Geymonat)

[juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't read the last part and the first 20 pages as i studied some similar works for my essay but it was really interesting and well structured

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a text book for a graduate class in on the impact of science on society.