PROSTITUTION: THEN vs. NOW

 

 

Timoty J. Gilfolye’s chapter “City of Eros” from his book “New York City, Prostitution and the Commercialization of Sex 1790-1920” focuses on the evolution of prostitution in New York in the late 19^th century. The chapter begins by highlighting the goals and values of the social reformer Anthony Comstock. “Comstock tracked down what he considered to be smut, lewdness and filth. By the twentieth century he could brag that he had destroyed over 160 tons of pornography.” Mr. Comstock was determined to fight against prostitution and the ever-present sexual immorality of the city. He would enter brothels as an “ordinary customer” and arrest performers that undressed or engaged in any openly sexual acts. Yet no matter how much Comstock tried to fight it, prostitution was an ever-growing cult that was in fact expanding quite quickly.

The text goes on to explain how there were two different types of brothels at the time: public and private. Public brothels, “bawdy houses”, were easy to access but often were relatively unconcerned with protecting the privacy of their patrons. The private brothels, “parlor houses”, however were much more exclusive. “Prostitutes in such elite brothels charged as much as five dollars per customer, a staggering sum to the average male journeyman or worker, who earned between six and fifteen dollars weekly”.

While prostitution was growing so was the demand for real estate in the city, yet it didn’t stop houses from renting their floors out to prostitutes. Some apartments would be a mixture of saloons on the bottoms with brothels on the top floors. But despite how common brothels were, “The prominent position of the brothel in the city’s underground economy and entertainment culture did not last forever.” Importantly, in the 1880s women were increasingly unhappy with their lives in brothels, “The strict control by the madams and the strenuous physical demands upon a prostitute’s body made residence in brothels short….Finally, the increasing repression of brothels also contributed to their decline.”

Nowadays brothels still exist, yet prostitution has mostly evolved into the form of escort services. Escorts are technically women who “escort” a man for an evening to a party or a dinner, but in actuality are typically engaging in prostitution. Escorts theoretically have the ability to say “no” at the end of the night if a client wishes to engage in sexual behavior, but in reality they are often hired exclusively for sex work. Technology such as telephones and the Internet allows prostitutes to go to their clients, avoiding the need for a brothel that could be easily located by the police. Of course brothels still exist in places like the red light district in Amsterdam, yet they are not as secretive or exclusive as they used to be in New York in the 19th century. Yet while brothels have mostly disappeared from the city, or are at least far less prominent, prostitution has not. Prostitution, like many other industries or black markets, seems to evolve with the times.