Prostitutes and other ramblings...

Today I had an enlightening discussion about prostitution in Victorian-era London.

What's really sad is the complete lack of knowledge that these men and women, even girls, had about the existence, danger and spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Today, it's a huge issue. Growing and spreading and each day becoming more of an international concern. Maybe not so much chlamydia, and gonnorhea, you know, things like that, but HIV/AIDS is a huge deal, and becomes increasingly important as we venture into Africa to assist them in understanding the truth about the disease, the way it is spread and the few treatments we have/are developing.

People had sex with anyone. Women would have sex with anyone for a small amount of money. Just enough to pay for a drink, or a small meal, or a place to stay, and usually that didn't work out well at all. Prostitutes would stay with other prostitutes who would rob them, and then leave the lodging, leaving the novices or younger women with no money to pay the "rent" and an angry tavernkeeper. Sometimes it would end in beatings, sometimes debt, sometimes payment in sexual favors.

It seems then no surprise that Jack the Ripper took up his murder spree in the East End of London. Run down and full of poverty, crawling with unfortunate women who were desperate for money and alcohol, it would be easy to murder women that no one would really miss. These women were outcasts as it was. The only friends they had were the other prostitutes, who were, in reality, glad to see these women killed, as it meant more business for them.

I also find it interesting that if a "Jack the Ripper" were to appear in London now, he'd be hard pressed to last and be able to continue to murder the way the real Jack the Ripeper did. Sometimes it's amazing to think of the way our technology has progressed. For Christmas two years ago, I got the book Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed by Patricia Daniels Cornwell. It was really interesting if you're into that kind of thing, and I suggest you pick it up. She basically tries to prove that Jack the Ripper was really the artist Walter Sickert. It seems plausible with the evidence she's presented. Although I have heard her claims disregarded as incorrect, it seems to make sense...at least the way she presents it.

I love reading historical fictions. One of my favorite books is The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber. Its about the rise of Sugar, a prostitute, in London society and the way she manipulates her way through the ranks. It's so good. It's a big book but it didn't take me long to read it  because it was so exceptional. Also, read The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Also by her, The Queen's Fool. I'm reading it right now. Also, read anything by Tracy Chevalier.

Alright, so back to the important thing. Prositutes. Even when people did understand that diseases existed, which the prostitutes did I think to a certain degree, and if not, they certainly understood the risk of pregnancy, they didn't care. And on top of that, it seems so strange that this kind of underground society was flourishing in a time when it was inappropriate to even flash a tiny bit of your ankle. While all the "proper" women were worrying about that, the poor women and their wealthy women's husbands were down in the slums having sex in whore houses. Faber's book does an excellent job of depicting this difference, and the way the upper class women were treated and treated themselves and their lives, their husbands, friends, family and children. Money was the key to everything. You were better if you had money. And all these prostitutes were trying to do was better themselves the only way they knew how.

I often wonder how they fell into prostitution. Were they kicked out of the house? but for what? rebellious behavior? experimenting? refusing to marry? Were they children of poor mothers and fathers who were working too many hours to put a little food on the table--they were working so much they couldn't even keep an eye on their children and these girls just fell into prostituting for some extra money? Were they pushed into it by their parents because they had children and houses and food that they couldn't afford? What was it that led these women here?

I think what's upsetting is that people just let it happen. They were just unfortunate and people just steered clear unless that's what they were looking for. I wonder if the only time the police ever went down into the East End was when Jack the Ripper struck. I got to see the exact places women were killed by him, where he walked and roamed, even one of the taverns that one of his victims was last seen at. Where his last victim lived, there's now a parking garage. Even now though, the East End of London is still a little run down. It's definitely not the ritzy upper class tourist attraction that the West End is.  It was cool though to walk around there and see the place where it all happened. The streets are still pretty narrow, the buildings still tower high above the street and you can just see what it must have looked like back then. Black smoke/smog filling the air, dirt, muck, people, carts, prostitutes, beggars, barefoot and filthy children running around. It was really amazing. I wish I could have been alive then. I would love to go back and live in so many different eras. But I would have loved to live in London then. Maybe more than any other time period. London fascinates me. There's so much history to it. I miss it. I'm going back there at least one more time.

It's funny how so many things can change, but at the same time, nothing really does.