Prostitution In Victorian Era Essay

During the the mid 19th century, prostitution was at its height of popularity in Victorian England. A total of 8600 documented prostitutes was estimated by the Metropolitan Police Division during 1868, not included the number of those whom the police had not acknowledged (Acton 38). Initiated as an occupation that brought women to the the sense of power and social statuses independently, prostitution was scrutinized and perceived as the root of social corruptions by many male scholars at the time such as William Acton and Henry Mayhew. In addition, prostitutes were sorted and studied in different categories by Mayhew with contrasting sentiments toward each group. Following with the exceptional intervention from state in the time of laissez-faire by the attempt to regulate the controversy through Contagious Disease Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869. The state tried to control the spread of venereal disease among the
In a short sentence, women’s fates were indirectly controlled by men. Many historical documents concerning the topic of prostitution were written by men. The fact that male scholars scrutinized and observed women using scientific method by categorizing each group of people had shown the discourtesy toward the gender equality. Nevertheless, the perception of prostitution as evil was generalized by authoritative men such as William Acton, who was a Royal surgeon. The notion of “double standard of morality” also impeccably depicted the submission in women, resulted from the passage of the Contagious Acts. Notably, the meetings regarding the mentioned legislative regulation were attended by male participants only (The British Medical Journal). Nonetheless, men was either directly or indirectly influential to each case where a woman ended with prostitution, which evidences will be presented