Tell me something I don't know.

The History of Prostitution.
where and why did it originate?
where legal vs illegal? when were changes made to this?

I started out with this as my topic, and soon realized it was far too broad.  After researching I decided to narrow it down to prostitution in the United States in the 1800s.

During this centruy, prostitution started to appear throughout the United States which sparked much debate.  By the end of the century legislation started to pass regarding prostitution.  In my essay I will focus on the rise and points of each sight of the debate--whether to regulate prostitution or abolish it alogther--and finally on what came to happen with legislation.

Thesis:
Starting in the middle of the 19th century, prostitution started to rise in the United States, 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.


Paragraph 2—overview of what and where in this time period
Paragraph 3—debate: regulate vs. abolish
Paragraph 4—legislation


My purpose is to inform my audience about prostitution in the 1800s and make sure they have a clear understanding of what the two sides stood for, and what happened by the end of the century.




The History of Prostitution: Outline

I. Intro

a. Prostitution=exchange of money for sex

b. Not serious social problem until end of nineteenth century in the US

c. Had practiced English common law of ignoring

d. During colonial and early national periods prostitution was an irregular occupation

e. Thesis: In 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.

http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html



II. Overview of Prostitution

a. Present in Louisiana territory owned by the French, major cities like New York and Chicago, saloons and outposts out west http://www.exoticworldtraveler.com/2009/07/14/prositution-in-the-united-states/

b. Increase with growth of industrial cities and opening of western frontier, Generally accepted in “red-light” districts http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

c. Prostitutes were among the first to populate and establish businesses out west; significant in developing areas http://www.soiled-doves.com/

d. Makeshift tents to stately mansions; mobile cat wagons or portable brothels traveled the country http://www.soiled-doves.com/

e. Mining towns, cow towns, logging camps, large cities, cattle-shipping centers, end-of-track towns, army settlements, frontier boom towns http://www.soiled-doves.com/

f. Research during 1800’s found majority of prostitutes were young, illiterate, poor, broken families; immigrants w/o money or forced, usually Asian women http://www.soiled-doves.com/

g. Red-light district=district with many brothels that formerly displayed red lights http://www.yourdictionary.com/red-light-district

h. Dr. William Sanger found majority late teens or early twenties; illiterate, poor, broken families http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

i. Economic poverty, societal disgrace, lack of education causes http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

j. Prostitution evolved into an industrialized business, had economic development http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

k. The shame and reluctance to talk about sexuality was weakened throughout the century, public becomes aware of dangers of venereal diseases http://www.ashastd.org/about/about_history.cfm

III. Debate: regulate vs. abolish

a. Growth of red-light districts and concern of venereal diseases resulted in two different standpoints http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

b. NY physician W.W. Sanger led group in favor of regulating—wanted to require compulsory medical exams and confine to red-light districts http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

c. Josephine Elizabeth Butler, an English reformer, influenced the other side—to abolish it altogether http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

d. Increasing number of citied and states acted to curtail prostitution in the last two decades of the 19th century http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

e. Movement to outlaw gained immeasurably when venereal specialists decided that consequences of gonorrhea and syphilis were so horrible that traditional attitudes and traditions had to change http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

f. Physicians and doctors argued that w/o prostitutes men would seduce or rape innocent women and suggested that prolonged abstinence for men would result in physiological disorders and insanity http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

g. Prostitution was a big business where even respectable people made a large income http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

h. Some cities abandoned the hope of legal prohibition in hopes to bring it under real control. Argued that controlling prostitution would reduce crime and disorder that accompanied life in bawdy houses, Having designated areas would help protect neighborhoods http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

i. (St. Louis social evil ordinance) Doctors assigned to examine St. Louis’ registered prostitutes (St. Louis first to do so) fell far behind and began issuing certificates of good health w/o conducting examinations http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

j. The new law in St. Louis was giving police too much authority in private lives—attorneys argued the ordinance was a more serious threat to civil liberties than one prohibiting it http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

k. Opposition grew among clergy; protestants and Catholics supported repealing the ordinance; newspapers also began to condemn it; St. Louis women against it-4,000 signed petition for nullification http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

l. Reformers and Christians wanted to abolish it altogether and educate children to stay away from it

http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

m. Moral traditions and social concern believed that it was the ultimate social evil http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

n. no alternate means of living was offered to prostitutes

http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

o. police and physicians more concerned with realistic of controlling venereal diseases, sanitation, and crime http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

p. moral crusade wanted to prevent spread of venereal diseases and protect the the future of the American family http://www.ashastd.org/about/about_history.cfm

IV. legislation

a. 1897-1917, brothels were legal in New Orleans http://www.exoticworldtraveler.com/2009/07/14/prositution-in-the-united-states/

b. Only city to regulate and define to red light districts was St. Louis between 1870-1874 http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

c. Because of venereal diseases, the American Social Hygiene Association formed and gave scientific backing to the movement to abolish prostitution http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

d. Iowa Injunction and Abatement Law of 1909 took aim at law enforcement officials who were reluctant to move against established houses. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

e. US federal government 1910 the Mann Act or White Slave Traffic Act which outlawed procuring and transporting women across state borders for immoral purposes http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

f. By 1920s legally tolerated districts had mostly disappeared http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dah_06/dah_06_03432.html

g. “social evil law”—social evil ordinance—in St. Louis recognized a legitimate enterprise that, like a saloon, had to be licensed by the city; passed in 1870; required brothel keepers and prostitutes to register with police and pay fees to board of health. Money would be used to pay physicians to examine prostitutes and aid hospital 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. http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

h. 1874, 72 St. Louis attorneys petitioned Missouri state legislature to repeal the ordinance and in February 1874 a bill was introduced to repeal the clause, mid-march the “regulate” clause in the city charter was repealed; by spring of 1874 licensed prostitution was finished in St. Louis http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

i. Spring of 1874, bill to prevent abuse of police power and under penalty of fine had to ignore the operation of brothels. It failed explicitly to prohibit the keeping of a house of prostitution. They could no longer be licensed but they were not illegal http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/2/1982_2_50.shtml

j. Page Act of 1875, US Congress, immigrants from China and Japan required to be processed at the port of departure by US Consulates; prevented entry of both prostitutes and forced laborers http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Page_Act_of_1875

k. by 1915 nearly all states had passed laws regarding the keeping of brothels or profiting in other ways from the earnings of prostitutes. http://www.answers.com/topic/prostitution

l. in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, states began to encourage the arrest of prostitutes for such crimes as vagrancy and loitering http://www.answers.com/topic/prostitution

m. the social evil ordinance in St. Louis empowered the Board of Health to regulate prostitution. Required registration and medical examinations and licensing of brothels. Nullified by Missouri state legislature in 1874, http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000117

n. New Orleans—first anti-prostitution ordinance in 1857—Lorette Ordinance prohibited prostitution on the first floor of buildings, soon after declared unconstitutional. More regulations made and led up to the creation of red-light district Storyville in 1897. Prostitution ended legally in 1917 due to concerns over health risks to US soldiers. http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000117

o. American Social Hygiene Association in 1914 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 http://www.ashastd.org/about/about_history.cfm

p. James Robert Mann, American legislator, author of Mann act, forbade transportation of women from one state to another for immoral purposes http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyjohnso/MannAct.htm