Prostitution and the Victorians

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.