PROSTITUTION AND THE INFLUENCES THAT LEAD A WOMAN INTO SUCH A LIFE.
Preliminary Consideratwns. The harlot's class of work is quite anomalous; in every profession or calling in life the laborer becomes more and more proficient as he or she gains familiarity with the work, and enjoys an increase of pay corresponding to the length of service. But with the harlot the highest remuneration, which is often lavish, comes first, and the less she knows about her business the better. In fact, hardly any woman of even the most brilliant attainments can earn as much by a reputable class of work as an attractive and fresh young girl can at first command by the sale of her person.
To an ignorant young girl in straitened circumstances and of immoral proclivities this opportunity comes as a great temptation, for she does not begin to conceive of the ruin that will speedily convert her into a cast off hag.
As heretofore pointed out, if the harlot be a necessity, then she should be granted every honor which we could bestow upon her for her self-sacrifice. But the conditions are quite the reverse. She, the oppressed and deceived one, is harshly treated, while he, the persuader and the liar, is condoned; she, who earns her living by prostitution, compelled perhaps by stern necessity, is an outcast, while he, who perhaps spends enough on venery to support a family, is not only tolerated, but welcomed by society.
Thus the man who blasts the life of an innocent woman by lying devices and the pretense of love gets not a tithe of the punishment of the ruined one. To her the injury is irreparable; to him the injury is chiefly a private one of dishonor.
"The whole force of the world's opinion has been directed, not to the censure of actually guilty parties who induced the crime, but to the poor wronged sufferer. She, who is too frequently the victim of falsehood and deceit, or the slave of an absolute necessity, must expiate her fault by submitting to a constant succession of indignities and annoyances. He, whose conduct has made her what she is, escapes all censure. But some moralist will ask, 'How would you have us treat such women?' Treat them, sir, as human beings, actuated by the same passions as yourself; as susceptible beings, keenly sensitive of reproach; as injured beings, who have a claim upon your kindness; as outraged beings, who have a demand upon your justice. Lead them into a path by which they can escape from danger; protect the innocent from the snares which environ them on every side. And when this is done, pour the vials of your hottest wrath on those of your own sex whose machinations have blighted some of God's fairest created beings".
The consequences of prostitution fall almost solely on the woman. The man, though he suffers in his purse or by disease, finds no impediment to securing employment, no social bar, no objection to his marrying and securing a respectable home, no obstacle to his occupying a pew in church, or to his holding any position which the chaste man may. He may go on his way betraying and ruining girls, spreading disease, begetting illegitimate offspring, and working into the hands of the abortionist, and yet go seemingly unpunished; but certainly, as the offender, he is inexpressibly more blameworthy than the offended one.
To make a girl a prostitute is easy horribly easy! The steps are very short when one considers them. At first her parents, secure in the belief that their daughter cannot do wrong, carelessly allow her to roam the streets by day or night with young men whom perhaps they hardly know by sight. Then come amusements without chaperonage the carriage drive, the dance hall, the theatre. After the theatre the young man perhaps invites her to a little supper, and, if she is foolish, she drinks a little wine with him. Now the ramparts of her moral and psychical nature are tottering, and she both allows and courts a little familiarity. The next time, perhaps under the influence of more alcohol, and flattered with protestations of love, she submits herself and yields her virginity. Pregnancy probably follows; she goes away on a trip with him under some lying pretext; he deserts her; she perhaps cannot go home, and so in desperation she gets into a cab and is driven to a brothel. Such a history is by no means uncommon among the lower and middle classes of society.