Description:Victorian Britain has
long been viewed as a tightly buttoned society in sexual matters. In
fact, female prostitution, or the Great Social Evil as contemporaries
called it, was endemic and the persistence of the phenomenon infuriated
anti-vice campaigners, while perplexing social reformers.
Trevor
Fisher's meticulous study of Victorian prostitution presents numerous
fascinating extracts from newspapers, journals, diaries and letters to
show how prostitutes viewed themselves and how they were regarded by
others. It gives an invaluable insight into one of the darker aspects of
Victorian life and helps us to understand why prostitution became such a
'problem' in Victorian Britain and examines how far the campaigners got
in their aim to abolish the oldest profession altogether. Prostitution and the Victorians
shows us too that many of the issues and arguments that occupied
serious Victorians never have gone away and are as relevant today as
they were 100 and more years ago.