Morality and Prostitution

For phase three in the London Lowlife Collection, I chose option two which asked me to investigate Mrs. Malleson’s “Reply” more closely in order to discover commonalities during the time it was written and tropes frequently used in women’s writing.

While analyzing the article, I became aware of the strategies Malleson made use of to make her argument. For the most part, I noticed that Malleson frequently pointed out disparities and made use of irony to make the audience question widespread and accepted customs. At the beginning of her article, Malleson opens with the topic of religion and morality, and she points out that: “In our days it is considered bad taste to allude to religion out of the pulpit… or to apply its spirit to the practical affairs of life” (Malleson, 3). Shortly thereafter, Malleson refers to her country as “moral and liberty-loving England (Malleson, 6). Malleson’s illumination of the stark contrast between the widespread expectations for English citizens to be moral but also to avoid incorporating religion into their everyday lives helps cause readers to question, why not? Is that even possible? Furthermore, Malleson points out the irony in Miss Garrett’s statement that the Contagious Diseases Acts are “merciful and Christian” by contradicting: “it is still more difficult to recognize Christianity in a law which is based upon belief in the necessity of prostitution” (Malleson, 9). The irony stems from Miss Garrett’s assumption of the law being Christian, when in fact the opposite is true because Christianity would not traditionally endorse prostitution.

I became aware of Malleson’s continual comparison between the rights of women and the rights of men, and how these differences contribute to her articulation of the overarching relationship between genders. Malleson points out that, according to Miss Garrett, the Acts will only succeed if extended to the whole civil population. What is not clear, however, is about whom Miss Garrett is talking when she refers to the “whole civil population.” Miss Garrett is seemingly in agreement with the Contagious Diseases Acts, and the Acts only require females to be examined and treated for venereal disease. Through her argument, Malleson begs the question, “Don’t men belong to the civil population as well? And if they do, why are they not subjected to examination and treatment too?” Through the Act’s omission of males, it is clear that the spreading of venereal disease is publicly blamed on women since the endorsers of the Acts believe that solely treating women will cure the spread of venereal diseases. While this blame can be interpreted as customary at the time Malleson was writing, it is also one of many instances in Malleson’s writing that illuminates hegemony as the structure of the relationship between men and women. Since men were not subjected to the invasive examinations and treatments, they assume the position of privilege and thereby power. Furthermore, the police in charge of deciding which women needed to be examined were dominantly, if not entirely male, echoing male’s power and ability to make decisions. Women, however, were subjected to the examinations against their will and had no say in the treatment of their own bodies. Some girls chose to change their name and leave town, thus becoming a clandestine prostitute and shedding their identity. Malleson continues her argument of hegemony by pointing out that men are actually in the center of the cycle of prostitution propelling it forward. Not only were men responsible for the continuation of prostitution and spread of venereal disease, but also they were the only ones with the power to stop it. Malleson asserts that wealthy, strong, and privileged men allow their “animal appetites” to reign over religion, morals, and human affections, thus actively constructing the concept and cycle of prostitution.

This realization of Malleson’s argument led me to the most interesting concept I found in Malleson’s writing, which was that the male construction of prostitution is driven by a male dictated double standard that they hold over women. Men, according to Malleson, require their “wives and sisters should be pure,” and while their wives may make “good housekeepers, safe partners in life, and fairly pleasant companions for a leisure hour, there can be very few, possibly but one, really suited to understand and rouse the finest parts of any one man’s nature” (Malleson, 19). If a man marries a woman for her purity, which is expected of a suitable wife, but also considers his sensual needs to be supreme, he is creating impossible double standards for his wife to live up to. To be “pure” requires a woman to be naïve when it comes to sensuality. A man who married a respectable woman could not expect to be satisfied by her innocence, therefore, so his sensual needs would cause him to look elsewhere for his “animal nature” to be satisfied. Social expectations and customs made it impossible for a woman to embody both purity and sensuality at the same time; a respectable woman who was capable of rousing her husband would be considered a “fast” woman, and therefore unfit for marriage, but a woman who conformed to the social expectations of a pure housewife would not be able to satisfy her husband, thus causing him to turn to prostitution. The double standards created by men kept the cycle of prostitution continuing by creating a widespread acceptance of prostitution and deeming it as a necessity to ordinary life.

At this point in my investigation, I know that I want to include Malleson’s article because her article incorporates several issues between the genders at the time it was written as well as a comprehensive argument regarding the Contagious Diseases Acts. Furthermore, Malleson brings to light the question of whether women should subject themselves to morality or subject themselves to men when she states: “not the purity of heart that sees God, but the purity of timid self-righteousness that fears man” (Malleson, 16). In other words, should women answer to men or should women answer to God? Do men consider themselves to be the epitome of morality because they dictate society and believe that they are right? These questions are a few that I would like to pursue in my investigation. To respond to these questions, I will focus on the issue of morality in connection to the Contagious Diseases Acts and how it relates to the relationship between men and women. I will also consult an article from the Pall Mall Gazette entitled “The Church and the New Crusade,” which was focused on the issue of prostitution in relation to the church and could prove to be very useful in answering my posed questions. The article was from the August 7th 1885 issue No.6364 Vol. Xlii and was written by E.D.W. Cantuar.