The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918

by Ruth Rosen

Describes how prostitution was viewed by early twentieth-century America, explains why some women chose to become prostitutes, and looks at the reform movement that developed before World War I

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, American History, Gender, Gender Studies, Sexuality

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Alok Vaid-Menon · Rating 3 out of 5]

During this time in the early 20th century you see late Victorian vice reform campaigns that specifically targeted sex workers. Rosen does a good job of balancing what reformers and media wrote about sex workers with how sex workers narrated their own experiences and political climate.

Here are some of the main ideas I learned from this text:
1) Because brothels were in lower-class neighborhoods, wealthier people were able to use this proximity to sex work as a way to create and bolster stereotypes about the working class and eventually immigrants as more licentious and in need of moral reform. This denied how many clients of sex workers were actually upper-class.
2) Women reformers used prostitution as a metaphor to account for all of women's subordination -- and began to describe marriage as a form of "legalized prostitution." We are still haunted by the specter of this metaphor in contemporary feminist discourse.
3) Social reformers and eugenicists argued that "feeble-mindedness" (a term that they developed to describe their assessment of mental disability) was a cause for prostitution.
4) Feeble minded was also a designation used to condemn women who owned their own sexuality and challenged patriarchal control and authority. Women who transgressed middle-class conventional sexual norms (either for pleasure or survival) became increasingly criminalized.
5) Theaters became increasingly associated with sex work in the 19th century. Sex workers were often permitted to use the theater to make connections with clients.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating book. I was expecting an historical account of prostitution during the era but this was so much more. It was an engrossing and often upsetting sociological account of gender and class struggles. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone with an interest in these subjects, woman studies and of course, the specific subject of sex work.

[Caitie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book discusses an important (and somewhat disturbing) topic but the author's writing just made it more boring and repetitive than anything else. I'm sorry, but the writing was at times convoluted. For instance, this quote: "Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the prostitute remained a moral pariah: an unfortunate casualty in the war against prostitution." (page 37) Um....what? To me, this sentence makes no sense. Of course they are moral pariahs, you don't need to say that the prostitutes are morally wrong or whatever because you make that perfectly clear in the first part of the sentence. Also, she keeps using the terms "prostitute" and "white slavery" interchangeably, but doesn't actually talk about the difference until chapter five. Tell us what the difference is early on so it causes less confusion. I didn't need to read about why these girls and young women lead the life they did because of x, y or z multiple times. If you are going to write about it like that, don't make it have it's own chapter....otherwise it just feels like we're reading the same thing multiple times.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm doing a paper on working class women during the Progressive Era and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was unbelievably fascinating. It talks about gender and prostitution from a Marxist-Feminist (sometimes anthropological) perspective. It explores class, exploitation, and views and conditions of women at the beginning of the 20th century. Racy for a history book, but very, very interesting.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enlightening book about what most people won't discuss or try to hide now days. It provides deep insight into how and why the women got into, lived and died and some were able to leave the profession. I thought it was a remarkable read as I love history.

[Jennifer Kincheloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and helpful for researching for my book, "The Secret Life of Anna Blanc," an homage to old Los Angeles inspired by Alice Stebin Wells, an LAPD police matron, who in 1910, became the first woman in the Western world to be granted police powers.

[Maxine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the single most interesting books on prostitution I've read. Not afraid to make educated guesses, yet backed by statistics and sociological theory. Highly recommended for anyone trying to understand Victorian/Edwardian sexual mores.

[Justine Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and extremely well researched. Very interesting and worth reading for anyone interested in women's studies.

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched and highly academic (but occasionally judgmental) history of prostitution in America. This book is an exhaustive study in the reasons behind why women choose work as prostitutes and does a good job of demonstrating why it was often the best option for women (actual comparisons of domestic or factory wages and hours vs sex work wages & hours). At times it dips into second wave feminist shaming of sex work, but it is overall a very comprehensive historical resource with a bibliography almost as long as the text itself. Despite it being an academic text if you are interested in the subject matter it is a pretty quick read-I just put it down for almost a whole year before realizing I hadn't finished it!

[Lauren Levitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished this book so I could read something else, and I have many thoughts. I’ll start with what I liked. First, Rosen at least acknowledges that “white slavery” was wildly exaggerated because of anti-immigrant sentiment. However, she still spends a chapter repeating highly sensationalized claims, and she insists that “white slavery” still exists, quoting Kathleen Barry (Gross). The best chapter is probably the last about the causes of prostitution, where she argues that prostitutes were not victims, although I am not sure she really believes that. There is a chapter on the subculture of prostitution, but strangely much of it is actually about pimps, clients, and madams. If you have not yet inferred, this is a deeply whoraphobic book.

[Ash Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

definitely one of my favorite histories of sex work. it does a great job of describing the sociocultural conditions of sex work in the Progressive Era, especially contextualizing the shift from Victorian ideologies. the early chapters come across as extremely repetitive, but it does get better

[L.M. Elm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look at those who were for and against prostitution in the progressive area.

[Nicole C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating study of prostitution during the Progressive Era in the United States. It's interesting and also saddening that some of the same reasoning women used for entering the trade then is similar now.