History, literature, and pop culture like to portray the Victorian Era as the golden standards
of sophistication, class, and prudence but often the cleanest cloth is hiding the dirtiest secret.
Today the oldest trade in the history of humanity is perceived as a great social evil by many. But
that infamous tag worn by the brothel industry was bestowed upon it only in the 19th century.
There were more brothels than schools in London during the Victorian era. The propaganda led by
newspapers and pamphlets against the industry gave the workers of the trade a bad name. This
resulted in a hostile environment and bad repute that resulted in cases like the infamous Victorian
Jack. But did Victorian Brothels deserve such hatred? Welcome to Nutty History and today
let’s find out how filthy brothels were during the Victorian Era. In his 1857 report, “Few Odd
Characters of the London Streets”, Henry Mayhew mentioned that around 8,600 women were working
the trade in London. It was an estimation and a wrong one by miles. His estimation was based on
how many women were known by the police to be in this line of work but the actual number was far,
far greater. Eighty thousand! Eighty thousand women in London were occupied in the oldest
profession known to mankind during the year 1857, the peak of the Victorian Era. The popularity of
the trade makes sense during Victorian Times because the Brothel Industry had enjoyed a
golden age during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and it was still riding the high despite
changing perceptions of society. Moreover, there was no better place to earn the money for the
fairer gender. Say, you are a well-educated woman at the height of the times when another prominent
woman was ruling your country, and you were given ample opportunities to learn and be productive in
society. However, there was a catch, your gender still determined your wage and not your efforts.
Women who learned high-level skills in college like typing and shorthand… because let’s be
honest, who are we kidding? This is the nineteenth century and we said ample opportunities, not the
best opportunities because of gender bias. Even the women who made it to be in the top possible
positions in reputable establishments only made an average of 25 shillings per year. It was nowhere
close to supporting themselves or their children and they were still largely dependent on their
husbands’ wages. In stark contrast, Brothels offered them shorter hours and higher wages,
and they were paid in cash! If you hit the genetic jackpot and happen to have good looks,
this profession would offer much better odds of success in a short time. Brothels didn’t just
offer better working conditions but also independence and that’s what made them so
lucrative. While in modest London, you could only be a street vendor or shop girl, and if you are
very, very lucky you may end up as a household servant to a Lord or their Lady. But in brothels,
even a “low-class” woman could find enough income to live like a lady herself, well not everyone,
but they still could have a good life without being dependent on a male figure.
So how come one could become as successful as a lady while working in the profession of the skin?
Well, as we mentioned, not every woman in this profession could accomplish that status. In fact,
there were three classes of professionals in the industry during the Victorian times. To
achieve a lavish lifestyle like the nobility of the nineteenth century, the very first
qualification in the brothel industry was to be really attractive. We are talking about Bella
Hadid and Lupita N’yango’s level of beauty here. Ok, that was an exaggeration but you get the gist,
right? These women served only the elite, nobles, and aristocrats, the members of the parliaments,
people related to the royal family, the lords, the generals, and the cream of the
crop of industrialists. Those sorts of wealthy people. Some were even exclusive, working only
with single clients and these courtesans would often end up as mistresses living with their
clients’ families or sometimes, they would end up marrying their clients too. Aww… happy endings!
Umm… yeah in more than one way. These were, of course, the highest-rated courtesans. The middle
class of brothel workers, like the high-level courtesans, didn't actually work in brothels. They
were the women who preferred to work freelance, they would have their own apartment to serve
a variety of clients and some would also work on the streets as well. It came with the independence
of choosing their clients and not having a boss but on the flip side, there was no job security
or protection that brothel workers had. They were quite prone to both infectious diseases and insane
clients. This is why perhaps; this class included a lot of married women whose husbands would work
as their agents and protection. Yeah, it may be a culture shock for our time but this was ‘a thing’
in Victorian London. A lot of street vendors had their wives working as cheap courtesans to
make extra money to match the ever-growing demand for household expenditures. I mean,
just look at Victorian fashion, even rags during that age would have cost a fortune.
Some wives readily agreed to work in the field, while others were forced by their husbands. And
if you were a low-class single woman, this was the only way to stay afloat until you found a husband,
not to mention, the profession helped with that as well. It was pretty much similar to how a lot of
people these days have an ‘entertainment account’ only for their fans. If you know, you know! The
lowest class of brothel workers were the women who actually worked in brothels. They were forced to
be with the men the Madame selected for them, and they weren’t allowed to deny services. The
working and living conditions were poor, filthy, and unkempt. But Madames also tried their best
to keep their health in check to save them from venereal diseases. As these ailments were not only
dangerous for the women’s longevity as a worker but also brought disrepute to the establishment.
On the surface, high-class courtesans to low-class brothel workers may have had their work cut from
the same cloth. But not everybody likes to order Vanilla when they go to an Ice Cream Parlor, isn’t
that so? Some people have a more exotic taste like rocky road and British glow ice cream and
some may not say it publicly but could be closet gluttons for wasabi ice cream or ketchup-flavored
ice cream. Ketchup! Well, we better not judge others and neither did the brothels of the
Victorian era. In fact, they looked at it as an opportunity and provided those exotic flavors.
As we all know Victorian times were quite prudent and judgmental, expecting everybody to behave and
desire in a certain manner, many men didn’t get what they wanted from their significant
others in their marriage. Most of them weren’t even bold enough to mention it to their wives,
and a certain number of them had desires that their wives were just biologically incapable of
fulfilling. During the Victorian era, women were not allowed to have a liberal mindset when it
comes to bedtime so that explains a lot of stuff we just mentioned. But brothels were a place where
there was no judgment regarding one’s inhibitions and one could get what they wanted, given they
were in the right place. Brothels understood that and began dealing in expertise establishments that
would offer exclusive services that were in demand. Spanking, cross-dressing, homophilia,
authority, servitude, and many other such desires had their own markets. Themed brothels
also helped these establishments to keep their client list private and avoid risky vagrants.
Brothels would also publish their sporting guides or catalogs featuring their ‘products.’ These
books detailed brothel workers' profiles for the prospective clients to browse and
choose women from the luxury of their homes before visiting an establishment. Profiles included ages,
physical descriptions, personality types, and the cost of their service. One of the
most famous guides was ‘The Swell’s Night Guide Through the Metropolis.’ In 2018 an
extremely rare first edition of this guide was unearthed. It provides an eye-opening insight
into the brothels of Victorian London. It rates individual women, describing one, Miss Allen, as
a “perfect English beauty” and another, Mrs. Smith as a “very agreeable woman” with “pouting lips.”
The nineteenth century may have been conservative in many ways but it was liberal when it came to
women’s education. Even brothel workers received a formal education. However, the education for
women was still limited to skills that made them attractive for marriage not to enable
them to actually earn a living. The majority of working-class women were unable to read or
write. According to Henry Mayhew, only 5 percent of low-class brothel workers were literate. They
usually would ask their clients to read newspapers to them so they could stay up-to-date on current
events. Higher-class courtesans however were skilled in many ways like etiquette, dancing,
drawing, and playing piano. But as they spent most of their time with members of parliaments and such
on work, they outgrew domestic homemaker women in terms of becoming more cultured and knowledgeable
of the world around them. Another challenge as a brothel worker was the infectious diseases that
were most commonly spread through young men in the military. Venereal disease was so common in
the 1800s that it killed just as many military men as going to battle. This led to the passing of The
Contagious Diseases Act in the British Parliament. Any woman suspected of dealing in coital services
could be summoned to undergo an unavoidable medical examination. If it were discovered
that she was infected, she would be forced into rehabilitation for the fallen women for up to
three months. Although the risk of contracting venereal diseases was high in this industry,
women working in brothels were actually much healthier than average working-class women because
they did not have to endure grueling 14-hour workdays in factories. So what do you think? Could
you have survived life as a woman in the Victorian era? We hope you enjoyed the video, please share
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