James Peter Warbasse - The causes of prostitution

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THE CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION

The wonder is that there is not a greater degree of public

appreciation of the prostitute-making conditions

which society harbors because it foolishly

thinks that it profits by them.

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By JAMES P. WARBASSE

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A prostitute is a woman who offers her body for hire to men for their sexual pleasure. Sexual promiscuity on the part of women, not practised for money, does not constitute prostitution. Nor does the mere granting of sexual privileges for money constitute prostitution; if it did, women who marry for money would fall within this class. Prostitution means promiscuity for hire.

We should approach its study with sympathetic minds. The prostitute in America is likely to be a weak character who has fallen a victim to the vicious conditions which society maintains. The glamor and gayety, which flippantly are spoken of as associated with her traffic, really do not exist for her. Her lot by no means is a happy one. She reconciles herself to this life usually because her mind is empty of better things. When once engaged in prostitution, it is difficult for the woman to escape from it unless powerful social forces are brought to bear.

The specific causes which prompt women to enter this traffic may be classified as follows: (I) those affecting both sexes, (II) those affecting first the male, and (III) those bearing especially upon the female.

Before proceeding with an enumeration of causative factors, let it be noted that the two fundamental causes are (a) sexual lust on the part of men and (b) poverty on the part of women. The other causes which will be given are subsidiary to these two. Anything that makes for sexual looseness, that breaks down the fiber of sexual morality, makes for prostitution. We may even go so far as to include all agencies which provoke sexual excitement. Among these are many contributing conditions, some predominated by good, some by evil. Thus, as sexual excitants, on the one hand is music, with a maximum power for good and a minimum power for evil; and on the other, alcohol, with a minimum power for good and a maximum power for evil. An analysis of the causative factors is not complete unless it takes into account these secondary influences.

I. A chief subsidiary cause common to both sexes is defective education, which is responsible for ignorance of the simple principles of sexual biology, sexual hygiene, and sexual disease. Boys and girls growing up, first learn of these things from their vulgar companions, stumble into love, courtship, and marriage, blundering and groping--all because they have been denied instruction in one of the subjects which are vital for their health and happiness. Venereal diseases and sexual sins are augmented because of the ignorance which prudishness insists upon. Women fall; men patronize the prostitutes, contract gonorrhea and syphilis, and carry them to their wives, because of this ignorance; and society reaps wretchedness and vice.

Were girls told the dangers of extra-marital sexual congress--how it ultimately means either pregnancy or venereal disease--and could they know the meaning and consequences of these two conditions, from both physical and social standpoints, the ranks of the prostitutes would be much depleted.

Many a girl would not have made her sexual mistakes had she been advised. It is not because there was not time in the home or school to teach her a little practical sociology. No, there was time to teach her many other things of minor importance. In fact, it will always be found that these girls have zealously been taught many things that are not true, and that would be of little service to them if they were true. The reason the girl was not given this useful information is that for two thousand years the "pleasures of the flesh" have been regarded as evil. It has been droned out by sad-voiced prelates that "man is conceived in sin." This wretched dogma has made its impression on the human heart; mothers and fathers are loath to speak of these sinful things to the young; and their girls grow up ignorant, and go into prostitution for want of the saving information.

Another defect of education is that which exalts prudishness under the guise of modesty. The draping of the body, to hide its parts from view, had its origin in Christendom in the doctrine that "the flesh is evil." Instead of hiding the body, this practice has directed attention to the covered parts. The vision of imagination has penetrated all draperies, and carried with it the lascivious sense which the unobstructed eye would not. Sensuality has been promoted rather than suppressed. The exhibition of the naked human body is the beginning of sexual morality. Unnecessarily to cover and screen it from vision is to insult it with shame which it does not deserve, proclaim it as evil, and direct attention to its more specialized sexual parts.

II. Of the causes which operate first upon the male factor, (1) the double standard of sexual morals is most important. It prompts men to employ the prostitute. They demand her as a masculine right. (2) Deferred marriage is another element. The causes of deferred marriage are largely economic, and rest upon the disproportion between wages and the cost of living. The wage-earning class is mulcted of most of the material wealth it produces. Men are paid neither their just wage nor enough to warrant assuming the responsibilities of marriage. The social system which bestows upon the non-producing class most of the wealth produced by labor is guilty of withholding from the man the bride to whom his industry entitles him. (3) The inability to regulate satisfactorily the number of offspring is also a potent factor. This, coupled with the superstition against copulation during pregnancy and lactation, drives married men out of the home to seek sexual gratification.

(4) The widespread belief among men in the need of sexual exercise as a preservative of health is a strong influence in the promotion of prostitution. The idea of the sexual necessity for men has been refuted by many students of these problems; but those who want to believe in it continue in the majority. Still it is not difficult to show that more men have their health damaged by prostitutes than have received benefit from their administrations.

(5) Alcohol is the great promoter of sexual lust. Investigators who have questioned many men upon this subject have found that a large proportion of them made their first sexual mistakes while under the influence of alcohol. Young men are especially prone to seduction when intoxicated. Alcohol inhibits the action of the will, benumbs the moral sense, and stimulates the sexual passions. No other poison plays so strong a rle in the promotion of sex immorality.

(6) The absence of good feminine society in the circles of youth is a factor. Social contact with high-minded women satisfies the craving for feminine society and deters young men from seeking the society of the opposite type of women. A boy who has friendships among good women is apt to be ashamed to go among the lewd.

(7) The unlovable wife encourages prostitution. She may be sexually unattractive to the husband because of disease, pregnancy, fear of pregnancy, or coldness. The husband may be responsible for any or all of these causes; but still he patronizes the other woman.

III. Of the factors that bear directly upon the female, the most important is (1) poverty. It is not only a primary cause of prostitution, but also a secondary cause, running into the other social conditions. In the United States are 6,000,000 women wage-workers, employed in the gainful industries. In New York City are 300,000 wage-earning women, living upon the brink of starvation. The wages which they earn scarcely provide them with the meager necessities of life; of the joys of life they have but little. Many of them cannot live upon their wages and must supplement them from other sources; many have others depending upon them.

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