Unsubmissive Women: Chinese Prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco

by Benson Tong

Unsubmissive Women explores the lives of Chinese girls and women who were shipped to San Francisco in the nineteenth century and forced into prostitution. They maintained their will to alter their fate, survived subjugation, and quite often escaped to establish families in the American West.

Genres: History, Sex Work

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Benson Tong is a professor of history at Wichita State University

Reviews

[Isham Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing is more annoying than frivolous 1-star reviews casually tossing off mean-spirited and dishonest comments like "poorly written" (as appears on Amazon). Benson Tong's "Unsubmissive Women" is a carefully and tellingly written account of a rare topic, Chinese sex workers in a 19th-century American city. Let's get the facts out on the table to make it clear why it's not an easy topic to write about. The overwhelming majority of these women were teenagers from rural China who were bought or kidnapped from their families or duped into believing they could find high-paying jobs in the "Gold Mountain" of California. Upon arriving, they were forced to work as sex slaves in brutally managed brothels, typically receiving little to no salary, and then cast out on the street as soon as they passed their prime or became ill or incapacitated from STDs. They left almost no written accounts of their experiences such as letters or diaries because they were illiterate and unable to write. The only records we have that enable us to piece together and reconstruct this underground society are municipal in nature - police, legal and demographic records, and newspaper accounts generally of a sensationalized and derogatory nature, reflecting the shocking racism of white Americans towards Asians at the time, coupled with patronizing Victorian attitudes toward degenerate women preying on upright Christian families. Incidentally, the tradition of duping women into prostitution with lucrative job offers in another country is alive and well in our times, e.g. East European women enslaved in West European brothels, their passport confiscated by their pimps and terrorized into obedience through beatings. The Chinese too remain experts in this trade, as in the recent news about Chinese women lured by traffickers to Angola with the promise of legitimate job offers, only to find themselves in Chinese brothels there.

The author focuses on the decades between 1850-80, from the onset of the gold rush to the start of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, when virtually all Chinese were forbidden from entering the US and those within the US were encouraged to leave and were attacked, beaten, or arrested. It's almost unbelievable that such vicious racial animosity could erupt and become law in a country that had just outlawed slavery. The only people who attempted to help Chinese prostitutes during these decades were a smattering of Catholic charities for "fallen" women. But with no surviving accounts of these women themselves, apart from refracted details of legal testimony by injured Chinese prostitutes who had the gumption to fight back or go to court and testify with little or no English capability against their violent johns or pimps - hence the "unsubmissive women" of the title - we have very little to go on but our imagination. Benson Tong's dispassionate and empathetic treatment compensates for the dry academic nature of the material he's working with. It's to his credit that he embellishes nothing but allows the records to speak for themselves and encourage the reader to imagine the rest.

[Wendy Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book on my to-read list since college TT. Slowly still getting around to all the books on Chinese American history and CSE I meant to read back then. Interesting to learn more about early waves of Chinese immigration, and I always find the results of archival research so compelling. Really enjoyed the inclusion of excerpts from some of the primary sources, though I will admit that the endnote style of citation is possibly one of my least favorite styles of citation.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a whole lot that'd be new to anyone with a general background in the subject of prostitution in the mid-nineteenth century, except the higher percentage of Chinese women forced into the profession by kidnapping, although in one sense within both groups (white and Chinese), most women were responding to social pressures as much as anything. A Chinese girl might be forced into prostitution as a virgin because her family needed the money, while a white girl might be forced into prostitution because she'd been seduced and "ruined", but in essence they're both responding to social pressures.

One big difference, however, is that once a white woman became a prostitute, she was forever after viewed as "ruined" and, in one sense, irredeemable, meaning no "decent" man would ever marry her. A Chinese prostitute, however, was viewed more as serving her family through her profession, and could re-enter the Chinese version of "decent society" as a second wife or a concubine without being shunned by those of her own heritage. Both the Victorian whites and the Chinese had seriously patriarchal systems, where women were denied all manner of rights, but this one difference was significant when it came to a woman trying to escape prostitution.

OTOH, most Chinese prostitutes (or their prospective spouse) had to pay off their owners, since they were essentially indentured servants with a rigged contract that had turned them into permanent slaves (missing days of work rapidly expanded the time she had to serve -- and even if she didn't get sick, her monthly period would often extend it indefinitely). Escaping prostitution wasn't easy for Chinese women, either, but this book gives the impression that a fair percentage of them managed to do it.

It is, as others have pointed out, a rather dry and distant discussion of a very intimate subject, but I found it quite readable, and the text is larger than usual, which my old eyes appreciate, and which also makes the book shorter than it looks.

[Frrobins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book detailed how women in China, due to dire economic circumstances, were sold by their families, kidnapped, or deceived into going to San Francisco and forced into prostitution in the late 19th century. And unlike other narratives, it also focused on the ways that these women attempted to fight back against their circumstances, some successfully and others unsuccessfully. From utilizing the inadequate legal system to go back to China, to running away, to marriage, to even more drastic means such as suicide, women found ways to gain their freedom even in a country that kept them isolated due to racism.

This book was an interesting read and a good intro into a subject matter I did not know much about. There were some aspects I would have liked more detail on, but other than that I would recommend.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be an addendum to any (high school or adult), history class covering the subject of the California Gold Rush or the city of San Francisco. The brutal and grotesque truth of human trafficking and real oppression may be difficult for some people to accept, but the personal stories of resilience and perseverance are fascinating.

[Zack]

A bit dated, but worth reading both for what you can learn about San Francisco history and what you can learn about the brutal roots of the stereotypes many people have against Asian American women.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very accessible information, and quite engaging. an easy read (I did skim parts), but for non fiction that’s very unusual for me.

[TRXTRMXTR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read. A lot of facts, but written with an obvious bias. My one confusion was that it tried to recreate a Chinese prostitute's "life" during the time, but without the juicy details. There was no real description of living quarters or relationships. The author didn't mention (except for once or twice as an aside) the complications of foot binding for a woman living in those conditions. I think that issue would directly relate to a woman's ability to physically escape from prostitution. There was very little take away on the connection to how the situation in San Francisco changed after the time period covered. However, the material that was covered was fascinating and well grounded in research.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched look at Chinese prostitution in California in the 19th century. Interesting fact is after 1880 Exclusion Act almost no Chinese woman came to the US. Many of those young women went on the marry and become the matriarchs of the first ABC's American Born Chinese.

[Zina Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent research book about the Chinese in the 1800's.