Big changes in the 18 th century took place. The emergence of commercial society, imperial expansion, the military success, the development of trade and the consumer and financial revolution had enormous effects on the population. A rapid population growth could be seen and also changes in the social structure took place. Access to a variety of commodities was now possible and many things were available in the marketplace. But this new situation also confronted the people with new uncertainties about wealth and value especially when looking at the stock market and they also had to face moral concerns about luxury and unpredictability.
These factors and the general decline in the standard of living for lower classes because of less free time were reasons for the cause of new social problems like rape, crime and prostitution. Homosexuality was also seen as a social problem in these days. In the 18 th century women were seen as a part of the domestic or private sphere. They were supposed to be in charge of the family life and thus disconnected from public life. The images we have of prostitution are misleading.
This time gave birth to expressions like bawd, libertine, sympathetic tart and plush brothel. Here the perspective of generally male moralists also plays a great role in stigmatizing these expressions.
Throughout the 18 th century women sold sex for money in most communities. They sold sex as a part of an economy makeshift and thus prostitution could be seen as a normal part of a wide-ranging set of economic and social activities. But moral reformers have constructed it as a social problem.
She was not integrated into society because of not fulfilling the role of the 18 th century woman. In the decades before the 18 th century writers did not see prostitution as an economic work. Later in the 18 th century prostitution was seen as a way to earn money and to finance life. That does not mean that this way of earning money was in anyway accepted. This can be seen in the fact that writers of that time did not represent prostitution as a legitimate work in their writing.
