Taken from:

http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/120606/Prostitution-Then.htm

Russell’s new ‘Renegade History of the United States’ recounts how prostitutes won virtually all the freedoms that were denied to women but are now taken for granted.

The following is an excerpt from Thaddeus Russell’s new book, “ A Renegade History of the United States ” (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2010):
In the nineteenth century, a woman who owned property, made high wages, had sex outside of marriage, performed or received oral sex, used birth control, consorted with men of other races, danced, drank, or walked alone in public, wore makeup, perfume, or stylish clothes — and was not ashamed — was probably a whore.

In fact, prostitutes won virtually all the freedoms that were
women were barred from most jobs and wives had no legal right to own property, madams in the West owned large tracts of land and prized real estate.
Prostitutes made, by far, the highest wages of all American women.

Taken from:
http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/Prostitution.htm

Nineteenth century feminists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Martineau and Margaret Sanger were inspired by the movement by early feminists to start looking at prostitution not viewed in the male terms but see women as victims of male society.

Why Victorian Women Became Prostitutes

Dr. William Sanger was one of the foremost researchers on prostitution during this period;
examined the identity of the average prostitute and sought to understand why she had turned to that lifestyle. He found that the majority of prostitutes were in their late teens or early twenties; they were usually illiterate, poor and from broken families.
Economic poverty, societal disgrace, and lack of education were also causes of girls turning towards prostitution;
they had a limited number of options.
some women had either been expelled from their homes or deserted by their parents and found     prostitution the only way to support themselves.
a number of women would turn to prostitution simply as an escape from typical professions. Many of the girls expected to remain prostitutes only until something better became available.     The conditions for women in the Victorian period caused many young teenagers and women to turn towards prostitution as a means of survival.

They were primarily young, single women, between the ages of 18 and 22. Their first sexual experiences were not extraordinary, usually serial
monogamy within their own social class. Most had previously held low wage jobs, primarily as domestics (maids). Few supported illegitimate children. Their health was generally superior to other working women, who suffered under 14 hour workdays. They had a higher standard of living than others of a similar class background; they had money, clothing and could afford their own rooms. They also had access to the pub, which served as a center of social and political life, but was off limits to the virtuous woman. Prostitution offered the young woman more independence, economically and socially, than could otherwise be available to her.

 

Benefits of this assignment.
This research assignment will help me provide specific facts from outside sources in my paper. I can use this information to explain how women were treated and regarded as prostitutes in the 19th century. It shows the benefits the women had when they were prostitutes. Next, I will focus my attention on the unfortunate affects that modern day sex trafficking have on women today. I will elaborate on the idea that women were, y majority, a part of prostitution as a means to protect and support themselves. Today, many are enslaved and held captive, leaving families at home, potentially to never be seen again. I will incorporate the idea of gender in this, but women being able to be the ones to take advantage of them man for his money, but today, the man takes advantage of the women for her body.

I did not write full essay format for this assignment because I simply want to quote and reference these websites and their ideas while explaining my own thesis throughout the paper. This assignment will greatly help me support some main ideas in my paper.