Lost Girls

The feminine condition and the mentality of the age associated with the economic tightness of less well-off social classes gave a new impetus to what became known as "The Great Social Evil": prostitution.

Since the early 1840s, the most important information agencies, churchmen and unmarried women were increasingly worried about prostitution. Although estimates and the number of prostitutes in London in 1850 varied considerably*, it is sufficient to claim that the number of women working on the street became increasingly difficult to ignore.

The United Kingdom census of 1851 made evident the demographic imbalance with 4% more women than men. The census showed that the population of Great Britain was about 18 million inhabitants; this meant that some 750,000 women would have been unmarried simply because there were not enough men. These women became known as "superfluous women", and many essays were published arguing what exactly was to be done about them. At that point, the issue of prostitution from an ethical-religious problem became a socio-economic problem.

While the Magdalene Asylums were engaged in "rehabilitating" prostitutes since the mid-18th century, the years between 1848 and 1870 saw a real explosion of the number of institutions working to "redeem" those "lost women" from the streets and re-qualify them to introduce them into respectable society - generally to work as homeowners in middle-low-middle class homes.

The practice of prostitution was dictated above all by extreme poverty and by an ever-increasing demand for unsatisfied men.

Many women, driven by poverty, decided to sell to a ruffian, who had them as goods. If they ever wanted to stop being prostituted, they would first have to face their masters, who would rarely let their livelihoods free, and then they would have to confront with families of origin who would almost never have resumed within a member with the mark of the "social infamy".

Ruffians were often the owners of brothels, more or less refined structures attended by men of every social order, where the bosses were dealing directly with the customers. The prostitute only took over at a later time and had the obligation to exchange only a few general words with the adventurer, who had paid the advance in advance. Often, instead, prostitutes lived in rent of the ruffian, who kept them in check and demanded very high fees and were difficult to pay the small fees of the streetwalker. However, if the rent had not been paid, the girls would be thrown into the street and exposed to dangers and violence of all kinds.

The theme of prostitution and of "lost girls" (a term of convenience used to describe every woman who had sexual relations outside of marriage) became the main ingredient in any literary and political debate on the subject. In the writings of Henry Mayhew, Charles Booth and others, prostitution began to be seen as a social problem.

According to Mayhew, there were three categories of prostitutes.

The first category was made up of high-class women. These women were usually available in fully respectful homes and could earn up to £ 30 a week from their suitors. They were often linked to one man at a time. Though known in society for what they did, they participated in social events and had a box at the opera even if they were avoided. Only the richest men could afford their affection. They were not necessarily well educated, but it was possible. Mayhew argued that these women came from middle classes and, for some reason, abandoned this lifestyle.

Although these women are generally found in elite circles, they occasionally visited Haymarket** where they were treated as queens.

The second category was a level higher than the streetwalker. She usually had her own apartment or shared it with another prostitute of the same type. They attended Haymarket but were less transitory than the lower-class prostitutes. As their prices were higher, customers were less likely to be robbed of their assets while "visiting". Many had fixed customers who were looking for them weekly. This allowed them to have a certain reputation and to avoid scams. These women were often from lower classes but "educated and gentle". They were well dressed at work even though they sometimes had to pawn the dress to get the money that did not come from customers. Occasionally they met men during their pilgrimages in Haymarket areas, though they were more likely to meet them in coffee or tea rooms. Although with an apartment, they preferred to bring customers to another accommodation.

The third category of a prostitute was the lowest and included all the classic streetwalker. Not all of these women were full-time professionals, often wives or waitresses who were trying to make some extra cash for themselves or their families, often with the consent or even encouragement of their husbands. There were two subgroups in this category, mostly divided by age. There were younger prostitutes trying to make extra money, and old and worn-out prostitutes trying to survive.

Although not as well dressed as some of the top class prostitutes, some of these "ladybugs" were very attractive. Young people started, often at 13.

The most paid and appreciated prostitutes were virgins and this caused a real sale of girls (but also males) that the poorest families gave to brothels in exchange for figures that could even touch the £ 400 if the bad guys had less than 12 years. When the inquiries were special and the customers were high-handed and talented, the ruffians did not scruple in kidnapping the bourgeois or high society girls.

In the Victorian age, where combined marriages also took place among pre-teenagers, the legal age of sexual consent was 12 years, then 13 in 1875. This low limit however greatly lent to child prostitution and after the chilling reportage William Stead, reporter of The Pall Mall Gazette, on the world of prostitutes and girls who were forced to undergo a social movement that culminates with the elevation of the 16-year limit in 1885.

Children were also highly required because they felt that they were not carriers of those venereal diseases such as gonorrhoea and syphilis, diffused in the Victorian age, and also because some popular beliefs considered sexual intercourse with a healing child of these pathologies.

While some young prostitutes managed to escape the racket, others became the old and wretched ones who infested the streets.

The latter moved in the dirtiest recesses in the Haymarket area. They were largely indigent, doing what they could to keep up. They practised, often for only a couple of cents, with young boys and those too poor to pay for the most wanted women. They were often thieves too. A trick they used to do was stay with the younger prostitutes who would pay them to leave, as their generally unpleasant appearance could cause disturbance or scare customers.

If even this trick was not enough, then they wandered around for parks and other dark places where their appearance was no longer an obstacle to business. They were willing to do anything for money. The parks, after sunset, became a shelter for all sorts of pervert and perverse act.

Venereal illnesses became the real nightmare of England in the late eighteenth century, as users of prostitutes fled to their wives and their children, creating scandals in high society and a high mortality rate for the population. Victorian doctors in the first instance underestimated the enormous proliferation of these diseases, relegating them to the phenomenon of "slums", but when the symptoms and mortality became undeniable even among the bourgeoisie and the nobility, in 1864 it was recalled to promulgate a special law.

The first of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1864 allowed every local policeman to oblige any woman suspected to be afflicted with one of the sexually transmitted diseases to undergo physical inspection. In the event of an established illness, the injured were relegated for 3 months in a military hospital, where they were kept in detention.

No control, however, was carried out on users, who continued to propagate the contagion until it was driven to monstrous peaks with the advent of the 20th century.

The Matrimonial Causes Act in 1857 allowed every man to divorce his wife for adultery, but a woman could only divorce if her husband's adultery was associated with cruelty. The anonymity of the city led to a significant increase in prostitution and unlawful sexual relations.

Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with mechanization and industrialization of modern life, painting prostitutes as consumed human beings and throwing them away as waste. Social reform movements tried to close the brothels, something that was sometimes regarded as a concentration factor of street prostitution in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, around 1880.

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* - The police estimated the number of prostitutes in London in 8,600, only in 1857. Other sources claim that the number broke through 55,000 in 1870.

** - At that time it was the centre of entertainment of the West End population and considered a shabby part of London after midnight. Though it was a great venue for foreign hotels, restaurants and cafes, its taverns became a receptacle for gamblers, drunkards, scumbags, cheaters, prostitutes, and everyone looking for their services.