Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
Prostitution, the exchange of sex for money, is said to be the oldest occupation, and throughout it’s history has been a topic of heated debate. This controversial occupation has been around since long before the founding of America, and became a part of the country soon after it’s discovery. However, prostitution was not a serious problem in the country until the late 1800s, mainly because during the colonial and early national periods leading up to this time it was a very irregular occupation and people simply ignored it. (Prostitution). By the nineteenth century prostitution started to rise in the United States, especially out west, and throughout this century it would become a heated debate whether to simply regulate the act or abolish it altogether; by the beginning of the 20th century, legislation regarding prostitution was underway.
Although prominently out west, prostitution could be found in all different places throughout the United States, and was a quickly growing profession in the nineteenth century. Already present in the Louisiana Territory when the United States purchased it from France, prostitution spread to major cities like New York and Chicago, but also to saloons and outposts in the west (Prostitution in the United States). Brothels could be found in all different areas—mining towns, cow towns, logging camps, large cities, cattle-shipping centers, end-of-track towns, army settlements, and frontier boon towns (Soiled Doves of the Old West); these same brothels ranged from makeshift tents to dignified mansions, and even portable brothels that traveled around the country (Soiled Doves of the Old West). Considering prostitution had been around in the west before the west became a part of America, it makes sense that prostitutes were some of the first to populate and establish businesses in the west; they played a significant role in developing areas (Soiled Doves of the Old West). Prostitution then continued to increase along with industrial cities and the opening of the western frontier, and soon after became generally accepted in “red-light” districts (Prostitution), which are districts with many brothels that formerly displayed red lights (Red Light District). It soon turned into an industrialized business with economic growth (Prostitution: Then and Now) and people became aware of it’s strong presence in the country. As this occupation continued to grow throughout America during this century, the shame and reluctance to talk about it weakened (American Social Hygiene Association), and controversy soon followed.
The growth of prostitution and especially of “red-light” districts led to a concern over venereal diseases, and now that the population had little fear of speaking on the subject, two different standpoints resulted (Prostitution). W.W. Sanger, a New York Physician, led the side favoring regulation of prostitution—this standpoint wanted to require obligatory medical exams and confine the practice to the red-light districts (Prostitution); on the other side, the English reformer Josephine Elizabeth Butler greatly influenced the standpoint of abolishing prostitution altogether (Prostitution). Some cities abandoned the hope of legal prohibition and instead hoped that they could bring it under real control; they argued that real control of prostitution would reduce the crime rate and disorder that accompanied brothels, and that having designated areas would protect neighborhoods (The Social Evil Ordinance). At the same time, police and physicians were concerned with controlling venereal diseases, sanitation, and crime (Prostitution: Then and Now), while some physicians and doctors claimed that without prostitutes men would seduce or rape innocent women and long abstinence for men would result in physiological disorders and insanity (The Social Evil Ordinance). Other arguments for regulating prostitution included the fact that many respectable people made a large income with this big business (The Social Evil Ordinance) and that the side to abolish the occupation offered no alternative means of living for prostitutes (Prostitution: Then and Now). However, the side in favor of abolishing prostitution brought to light just as many points. They argued that the doctors in charge of running routine examinations on prostitutes fell behind in their work and began issuing certificates of good health without conducting exams, and that the law to regulate it gave police too much authority (The Social Evil Ordinance). Even newspapers began to condemn the practice and the idea that it could be regulated, and opposition quickly grew among clergy (The Social Evil Ordinance); Reformers and Christians not only wanted to abolish prostitution altogether, but also wanted to educate children to stay away from it because moral tradition and social concern believed it was the ultimate social evil (Prostitution: Then and Now). This moral crusade wanted to prevent the spread of venereal diseases as well in order to protect the American family (American Social Hygiene Association). The movement to outlaw prostitution gained immeasurably when venereal specialists of the time decided that the consequences of gonorrhea and syphilis were so horrible that traditional views and attitudes were forced to change (Prostitution), and because of venereal diseases the American Social Hygiene Association formed and gave scientific backing to the movement to abolish prostitution (Prostitution). The debate over prostitution continued throughout this century, and in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, an increasing number of cities and states started acting to restrict prostitution (Prostitution).
By the late 1800s, cities and states in America began passing laws to restrict or abolish prostitution. St Louis became the only city to regulate prostitution and define it to red-light districts through the Social Evil Ordinance passed in 1870 (Prostitution). The Social Evil Ordinance gave the Board of Health the power to regulate prostitution by requiring medical examinations and licensing of brothels (Historical Timeline); this “social evil law” recognized brothels as legitimate enterprises, like saloons, that had to be licensed by the city. It also required brothel keepers and prostitutes to register with police and pay fees to the board of health. This money would be used to pay physicians to examine prostitutes and aid hospitals where infected women were confined. Next to the hospitals would be “houses of industry” where women could learn domestic skills, in hopes they would pursue a different line of work (The Social Evil Ordinance). However, in 1874 the Missouri State Legislature was petitioned to repeal the ordinance and by spring of that year licensed prostitution was no longer present in St. Louis (The Social Evil Ordinance). Instead, a bill was passed to prevent abuse of police power in regards to prostitution, but it failed to explicitly prohibit the keeping of a house of prostitution, therefore brothels and prostitutes could no longer be licensed but they were not illegal (The Social Evil Ordinance). The United States Congress started to get involved in 1875 with the Page Act, which prevented the entry of Asian immigrants for prostitution and forced labor (Page Act of 1875). In 1857, New Orleans passed their first anti-prostitution ordinance, the Lorrette Ordinance, which prohibited prostitution on the first floor of buildings, but was soon after declared unconstitutional; more regulations were made that led up to the creation of the red-light district Storyville in 1897. Brothels were then legal in New Orleans from 1897-1917 (Prostitution in the United States); however, prostitution ended legally in New Orleans in 1917 due to concerns over health risks to US soldiers (Historical Timeline). The Iowa Injunction and Abatement Law of 1909 took aim at law enforcement officials who were reluctant to move against established houses of prostitution (Prostitution), and in 1910 the US federal government passed the Mann Act, or White Slave Traffic Act, which outlawed procuring and transporting women across state borders for immoral purposes (Prostitution). Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, stated began to encourage the arrest of prostitutes for crimes like vagrancy and loitering (Comparison). In 1914, the American Social Hygiene Association was founded by group of public health reformers committed to attacking an undesirable social condition that they believed could be improved through medical and educational means (American Social Hygiene Association); by 1915 nearly all states had passed laws regarding the keeping of brothels or profiting in other ways from the earnings of prostitutes (Comparison); finally, by the 1920s legally tolerated districts of prostitution had mostly disappeared (Prostitution). From the 1800s into the early 1900s, many legal actions were taken regarding prostitution, and in the end the majority of the United States legally prohibited it.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Prostitution in the United States grew into a popular occupation, sparked heated debates, and eventually came to be abolished in most areas of the country. This aged profession came long before the founding of America, and became a controversial issue in the country soon after purchasing the Louisiana Territory. Brothels stretched across the nation in all different types of areas, and in a short time two different views on prostitution emerged—whether to regulate or abolish the act. Legislation at first favored regulation, but by the beginning of the twentieth century nearly all parts of the country had abolished prostitution; although one of the oldest professions, it is not one that would remain legal in America.
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