Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State [Paperback]

Walkowitz attaches great significance to the Contagious Diseases Acts and adopts a most interesting viewpoint. Walkowitz investigates the Acts within their politcal and social context, and is careful not to issolate them as an expression of Victorian sexual and social ideology. Walkowitz does not see the Acts as the embodiment of programmatic and coherent social policy towards the prostitute or the working class; instead they shaped and defined these social views. Walkowitz pin points the origin of the Acts as limited military sanitary measures transforming into controversial social legislation over a five year period.

With this clear approach the reader is constantly aware how the offical attitude to prostitution gained momentum, becoming harsher in it's treatment of promiscuous women. It is clearly documented how administrators and supporters of the first Contagious Diseases Act came to envisage a new purpose and function for a regulation system. Through documenting the development of the measures Walkowitz enables the reader to see that the creation of new medical institutions and new precedents for police and medical supervision in to the lives of the poor transformed the Acts into a major piece of social legislation.

Walkowitz introduces the reader to a new and compelling perspective regarding the social position of the prostitute. The author keenly challenges the Victorian assumption that 'women of the night' were merely the victims of middle-class seduction and white slave traders. Walkowitz suggests that prostitutes enjoyed a relatively high degree of personal control within their profession, communicating the temporary nature of the occupation and how it represented a transitional period in the life of the prostitute. It is revealed that great numbers of suspected prostitutes were listed under other occupations such as dressmakers, seamstresses and book-binders, a reflection of what the prostitute may have done before, and what she would eventually return to.

Walkowitz also confronts the reader with the view that prostitutes were generally tollerated by the community and not rendered social outcasts. She provides further evidence of this by highlighting the existence of a distinct supportive female subculture. This concept is reinforced by numerous examples of support and generosity between these women. The case studies are an indispensable component, providing an abundant source of information on the thoughts and feelings of the registered prostitutes, the views of their communities and also the activities of the repealers.

The work on the repeal movement is of great interest as it clearly communicates the diverse debates that raged on the issues of sex, gender and class. The discussion of the movement shows that other than feminists, many of the repealers were not directly concerned with the plight of the prostitute or her treatment under the Acts. Walkowitz illustrates that many Libertarians opposed the police repression as an extension of state power and how others objected on moral grounds as the official sanctioning of vice.

The author highlights the activities of the distinctly feminine Ladies National League. Feminists protested that the Acts institutionalised women as 'sex objects' by allowing male clients and the compulsory interal ivestigations of 'instrumental rape' to control the female body. Walkowitz is able to present the most interesting irony; the feminist image of the'fallen women' victimised by male pollution and law failed to acknowledge the voluntary nature of prostitution.

Walkowitz provides abundant detail on the wide range of tactics adopted by the repealers. There are many colourful accounts of meetings, propaganda, petitioning and pamphleteering but of special interest are the examples of civil disobedience. Such stories communicate the strong sense of personal commitment and help to make the reader's experience of this book truly memorable.

The work of Judith Walkowitz is crucial to the understanding of the Victorian prostitute and her place in society. She makes a most persuasive case for her arguments, providing the reader with an extraordinary insight to the period. In addition she exhausts the the Contagious Diseases Acts and enables the reader to understand why the issues surrounding prostitution occupied a central postition in society and politics. Walkowitz highlights their role in shaping public discourse, fully extending the opportunity to explore the diverse range of attitudes and opinions that characterised the period. With strong documentation and colourful evidence scattered throughout, this book is truly a memorable read.