Julia Ellis
Teresa Coronado
ENGL 327, Sec. 1
29 March 2016
The
Progression of Feminism
Although written and published in England in 1799, Common Prostitution found its way to
America because progressive individuals agreed with the author’s views. We were
already a settled country, recently freed from the British rule and recovering
from the impact of the Revolutionary War. Albeit already settled with an
assembled form of government, laws pertaining to the treatment of others were
still being written; even after writing these laws, it took hundreds of years for
them to be enforced. This essay, which seems to be aimed at the church and
government, written by an unknown author on the subject of brothels,
prostitution and half-way homes, is the rising of one such topic; it takes that
which was commonly veiled by the government, through their claim of ignorance,
and brings it to light: the demeaning treatment of prostitutes. Thoughts On Means of Alleviating the
Miseries Attendant Upon Common Prostitution should be incorporated into the canon of American Literature due to its
fascinating argument which speaks of paving the way toward innovative feminist
thought on a women’s education.
One may ask “Why prostitution? Surely there were other
jobs eligible to the women within the century?”. Kristen
Robinson with the Department of History of the University of Kentucky wrote a
review of a text by Tony Henderson (Disorderly Women in Eighteenth-Century London: Prostitution and Control
in the Metropolis, 1730-1830) called Prostitutes in Eighteenth-Century London. Robinson informs readers that prostitutes reflected the general makeup of London's
poverty stricken population; because of this, the women had minimal education
and were often not trained in any trade. According to Robinson, “Prostitutes
tended to be in their late teens or early twenties; very few young girls entered
into prostitution. Most of London's prostitutes entered into prostitution on a
full or part-time basis because of economic need and their lack of other
marketable skills.” (Robinson, Prostitutes
in Eighteenth-Century London). The author of Common Prostitution had a similar notion in the introduction to
their essay; they create a young, fictional character who turns to the streets
to earn the financial means to survive. The author later goes on to explain
that if the girl had been well educated or taught a trade, she would have no
need to turn to such a degrading profession. The author’s views on the
importance of education to young, low-class girls as the means of preventing
this profession from being their only option was an innovative one.
In the 1700’s, women were expected to only be educated on the
means of keeping a proper home and had just recently started being accepted as
writers – even then, their works were not taken too seriously (Wolf, 19th Century Women Writers).
According the National Women’s History Museum, the purpose for female education
was to teach the girls the things they would need to know to be able to find a
good husband. America had taken to European ways of education, so the only women
receiving an education were those from a high socioeconomic status. Due to
this, the period’s increase in female writers consisted primarily of wealthy
individuals, who had no reason to turn to prostitution because of their
background; because of these socially enforced rules on education, the women
who suffered were not receiving the education which would have saved them from
this career. The author of Common
Prostitution realizes this and suggests, instead, there be programs created
and offered to willing prostitutes to learn skills which would make them
knowledgeable within the workforce.
Since Common
Prostitution was written in England, there is some varying in the ways
which the education system worked here in the United States. As America
progressed, towns with closer living quarters (generally towns within the
northern states) provided dame schools to educate very young boys and girls.
The boys commonly continued their education after finishing dame school, while
the girls did not – in fact, some towns even set laws preventing female enrollment
within establishments that progressed past this level of schooling. In the
south, property was not commonly close together, so children were taught using
tutors; because of this, girls were not likely to learn unless a governess was
brought in to teach them. Even in these cases, the girls were only taught reading
(so they would be able to study the Bible) and writing along with basic arithmetic
to track the household’s expenditure (NWHM, Colonial
Education). American girls were, during this time, receiving a minimal
education, but had some unfortunate event happened causing them to search for a
job in financial desperation, they would have no prior knowledge for them to
support themselves on. Although the author of Common Prostitution is arguing specifically for an establishment to
educate and reform prostitutes, this argument for scholarly inclusion was
easily applicable to all women.
The girls in America received minimal education, but after
the revolutionary war individuals began to realize that the fate of the country
could be heavily dependent on women. The country began to believe that anything
was possible and the nation’s success required an intelligent population,
because of this realization, women began being educated. Although girls were
learning, their education was not believed to be in their favor, but instead in
the favor of the country; these women were receiving education, but not to
better themselves it was to maintain the country had all men been required to
leave for war. (NWHM, Citizens of a New Republic). In this form of education,
women were not just learning basics to keep their homes well-off, but they were
beginning to learn trades and jobs required to keep the towns and cities alive.
Because of the war, the country began seeing an increase in women education, leading
to more progressive thoughts on the subject of feminism. Although the original
intention for educating these women was to create a pool of knowledge to
continue reaping the country, many women chose to take advantage and learn for
their own benefit.
Men still reacted negatively to educated women, but due to
the creation of the Republican Motherhood (an organization created to educate
women for the improvement of America) these women were starting to be socially
accepted. The organization convinced individuals that educated women brought patriotism
into their homes, a quality which was desired to be passed down to their sons’ (NWHM,
Women’s Changing Roles as Citizens of a
New Republic). Eventually, as America progressed, individuals began
marrying for love, and families started fighting for their daughters’ education
in the hopes they would intrigue a man from a higher social status. On the
other hand, in this new marrying style, it was also seen as beneficial for a
woman to be educated, just in case she married an unreliable man because then their
children would still have a stable, knowledgeable individual who still
possessed the ability to teach them. The NWHM also stated that while still
under the British Colonial rule, the conditions for industrialized colonies
made it difficult for individuals who were illiterate to socially function
because texts were more easily accessible due to the larger distribution and lower
cost of printed materials. It is possible that all of these took part in the
reasoning for educating women; marriage or convince, regardless, average women
were receiving an education which bettered them and allowed the growth of
feminist thought in America.
Through the progression of America, there was a reformation
in thoughts on women’s education. Educated women became not only normalized but
expected because it was eventually believed to be their job to maintain
American views on what it means to be loyal to one’s family and country within
their household. The ideas that brought this about were ones of strong,
educated individuals (like the author or Common
Prostitution) fighting for women to gain access to thought and the ability
to express these thoughts. Although the author of Common Prostitution argues for the education of one very specific
type of woman, they fight for the education of what society viewed as the
lowest form of woman. The argument proposes an amazing argument as to why women should receive an education as a
young age and also have the ability to learn in depth as they grow creating
trailblazing ideals on women’s rights.
Works Cited
ECCO, ed. Thoughts on Means of
Alleviating the Miseries Attendant Upon Common Prostitution.
London: S.n., 1799. Print. Social Sciences. Originally, the text was published in London in 1799 by an
unknown publisher. The Eighteenth Century Collections Online Print Edition, or
the
ECCO, republished this text in an attempt to preserve it.
NWHM. "Colonial Education." National Women's History Museum. NWHM, 2007. Web. 28 Mar.
2016.
<https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/education/1700s_1.htm>.
- - -. "Women's Changing Roles as Citizens of a
New Republic."National
Women's History Museum.
NWHM,
2007. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
<https://www.nwhm.org/onlineexhibits/education/1700s_2.htm>.
Robinson, Kristen. "Prostitutes in Eighteenth-Century
London."Humanities and
Social Sciences
Online.
H-Women, Apr. 2000. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?
id=4028>.
Wolf, Abby. "19th Century Women Writers." PBS. PBS,
n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/wives/writers/intro.html>.
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