During the Victorian Age, prostitution was a wide-scale problem in Britain. The very essence of it went against every moral value that was promoted during this time. Upon entering into the world of prostitution, there were several different avenues that could be taken by prostitutes including military encampments, brothels and streetwalking.
The number of women prostituting during the Victorian Age was staggeringly high. Although London police reports recorded there to be approximately 8, prostitutes known to them, it has been suggested that the true number of women prostituting during this time was closer to 80, Rogers. The activities of prostitutes were affected by many things, but the circumstances surrounding their fall, the events of their daily lives and the acts and reforms regarding their rights were the issues that took precendence in their lives.
Several factors in society led to prostitution, but the most prominent were social classes and the economy. An example of their beliefs can be seen in the working class idea of an engagement, an arrangement made through the premarital intercourse of the two people involved. This type of behavior, although acceptable among their peers, was frowned upon by their social betters and deemed wildly inappropriate Logan, However, due to the nature of their status in society and the social inequalities that existed during the 19th century, working class families were not capable of following the traditional engagement rituals that would have been expected in polite society, and women were often born into disadvantageous situations to which they were forced to adapt in order to survive.
In addition to this, the poor economic status of the working class family often forced women to work in unsavory places among members of the opposite gender. As a result of such circumstances, their close associations often resulted in problems including inappropriate knowledge, exposure to elements unfit for women, and unfortunate events such as rape Nolland, One writer acknowledges that the three most common professions that led to prostitution were factory workers, seamstresses, and servants.
Women who worked in factories worked alongside men for long hours and sometimes late into the night; this type of setting often led to cases of corruption and rape. Women who worked as seamstresses had an entirely different set of problems that led to prostitution. Although they were not exposed to men as those in factories were, they were over-worked and underpaid. There were many seamstresses, but there was not enough work for all of them; therefore, many women who were rooted in this profession used prostitution as a supplementary income in order to avoid starvation.
