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How 19th Century Prostitutes Were Among the Freest, Wealthiest, Most Educated Women of Their Time

T

Tania Admin

I found this quite an interesting read, and to be honest the information contained did not surprise me in the slightest.

In the nineteenth century, a woman who owned property, made high wages, had sex outside of marriage, performed or received oral sex, used birth control, consorted with men of other races, danced, drank, or walked alone in public, wore makeup, perfume, or stylish clothes -- and was not ashamed -- was probably a WL.

In fact, prostitutes won virtually all the freedoms that were denied to women but are now taken for granted. Prostitutes were especially successful in the wild, lawless, thoroughly renegade boomtowns of the West. When women were barred from most jobs and wives had no legal right to own property, madams in the West owned large tracts of land and prized real estate. Prostitutes made, by far, the highest wages of all American women. Several madams were so wealthy that they funded irrigation and road-building projects that laid the foundation for the New West. Decades before American employers offered health insurance to their workers, madams across the West provided their employees with free health care. While women were told that they could not and should not protect themselves from violence, and wives had no legal recourse against being raped by their husbands, police officers were employed by madams to protect the women who worked for them, and many madams owned and knew how to use guns.

While feminists were seeking to free women from the "slavery" of patriarchal marriage, prostitutes married later in life and divorced more frequently than other American women. At a time when birth control was effectively banned, prostitutes provided a market for contraceptives that made possible their production and distribution. While women were taught that they belonged in the "private sphere," prostitutes traveled extensively, often by themselves, and were brazenly "public women." Long before social dancing in public was considered acceptable for women, prostitutes invented many of the steps that would become all the rage during the dance craze of the 1910s and 1920s. When gambling and public drinking were forbidden for most women, prostitutes were fixtures in western saloons, and they became some of the most successful gamblers in the nation. Most ironically, the makeup, clothing, and hairstyles of prostitutes, which were maligned for their overt sexuality (lipstick was "the scarlet shame of streetwalkers"), became widely fashionable among American women and are now so respectable that even First Ladies wear them.

Women who wished to escape the restrictions of Victorian America had no better place to go than the so-called frontier, where a particular combination of economic and demographic forces gave renegade women many unusual advantages.
 
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Demon

Legend Member
Points
0
Re: How 19th Century Prostitutes Were Among the Freest, Wealthiest, Most Educated Women of Their Tim

Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke (1955 to 1975 TV series) was such a madam (played by Amanda Blake), though not called that in the show. James Arness and Dennis Weaver were the other main actors. Burt Reynolds also acted in it from 1962 to 1965.

Loved the show when I was a kid.
 

Lingus

Legend Member
Points
175
An interesting topic started by Tania all of seven years ago, revived today by Demon.

The American Wild West ... it was the Saloon Girl's job to dress up, cajole and entertain men in township saloon bars and dance halls ... they were the equivalent of the 'male peacock' show-off and earned a living mostly based on how many drinks they could sell the men and how many 'cups of tea' the men might buy for the girls ... not all Saloon Girls (a.k.a. Painted Ladies or Soiled Doves) were prostitutes, but interestingly, it was the dedicated prostitutes (a.k.a. White Doves) who were often discreetly hidden away and who were apparently more commonly attired in demure white costumes ...

1.aWildWest.jpg

As for the men of the pioneer west, if they weren't single, the married men mostly had left their families behind whilst they strove to eke out a living in harsh surroundings (particularly in the gold rush era). I've read that homosexual behaviour was also a more liberal thing in those Wild West days.
 
T

Tania Admin

An interesting topic started by Tania all of seven years ago, revived today by Demon.

The American Wild West ... it was the Saloon Girl's job to dress up, cajole and entertain men in township saloon bars and dance halls ... they were the equivalent of the 'male peacock' show-off and earned a living mostly based on how many drinks they could sell the men and how many 'cups of tea' the men might buy for the girls ... not all Saloon Girls (a.k.a. Painted Ladies or Soiled Doves) were prostitutes, but interestingly, it was the dedicated prostitutes (a.k.a. White Doves) who were often discreetly hidden away and who were apparently more commonly attired in demure white costumes ...

View attachment 96202

As for the men of the pioneer west, if they weren't single, the married men mostly had left their families behind whilst they strove to eke out a living in harsh surroundings (particularly in the gold rush era). I've read that homosexual behaviour was also a more liberal thing in those Wild West days.
Thanks heaps for the information. I plan on digging up a heap more on the history :)
 

Madmax1700

Legend Member
Points
45
I found this quite an interesting read, and to be honest the information contained did not surprise me in the slightest.

In the nineteenth century, a woman who owned property, made high wages, had sex outside of marriage, performed or received oral sex, used birth control, consorted with men of other races, danced, drank, or walked alone in public, wore makeup, perfume, or stylish clothes -- and was not ashamed -- was probably a WL.

In fact, prostitutes won virtually all the freedoms that were denied to women but are now taken for granted. Prostitutes were especially successful in the wild, lawless, thoroughly renegade boomtowns of the West. When women were barred from most jobs and wives had no legal right to own property, madams in the West owned large tracts of land and prized real estate. Prostitutes made, by far, the highest wages of all American women. Several madams were so wealthy that they funded irrigation and road-building projects that laid the foundation for the New West. Decades before American employers offered health insurance to their workers, madams across the West provided their employees with free health care. While women were told that they could not and should not protect themselves from violence, and wives had no legal recourse against being raped by their husbands, police officers were employed by madams to protect the women who worked for them, and many madams owned and knew how to use guns.

While feminists were seeking to free women from the "slavery" of patriarchal marriage, prostitutes married later in life and divorced more frequently than other American women. At a time when birth control was effectively banned, prostitutes provided a market for contraceptives that made possible their production and distribution. While women were taught that they belonged in the "private sphere," prostitutes traveled extensively, often by themselves, and were brazenly "public women." Long before social dancing in public was considered acceptable for women, prostitutes invented many of the steps that would become all the rage during the dance craze of the 1910s and 1920s. When gambling and public drinking were forbidden for most women, prostitutes were fixtures in western saloons, and they became some of the most successful gamblers in the nation. Most ironically, the makeup, clothing, and hairstyles of prostitutes, which were maligned for their overt sexuality (lipstick was "the scarlet shame of streetwalkers"), became widely fashionable among American women and are now so respectable that even First Ladies wear them.

Women who wished to escape the restrictions of Victorian America had no better place to go than the so-called frontier, where a particular combination of economic and demographic forces gave renegade women many unusual advantages.
Good read
 

The Voice

Diamond Member
Points
49
The excellent Robert Redford's The West series recently shown on SBS, paints a less flattering picture of prostitutes in the western frontiers. No doubt some did very well but most were exploited and left destitute.
 
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