Gender in Victorian Britain – Lecture notes for Oct. 02, 2014

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History 364-0-01: Gender and Sexuality in Victorian Britain; Northwestern University, Fall 2014

The Maiden Tribute and the Child Prostitution Scandal

  1. What cultural attitudes about women, virginity, and sexual purity led privileged men to normalize child prostitution and fetishize virginity?
  2. How did the prostitutes’ nationality or socioeconomic status affect their value as a commodity?
  3. How does W. T. Stead portray each of the social classes in his Maiden Tribute?
  4. In Chapter 5, Fishman writes that men from the West End favored female prostitutes from the East End. What are the multiple layers of injustice, class dichotomy, and gender politics underlined in this assertion?
  5. Who do you think was ultimately held accountable for child prostitution by Victorian society after the exposé was published?
  6. What role do you think the lack of sexual education played in this scandal and so-called sex trade?
  7. Do you think that raising the age of consent from 13 to 16 might influence the trade in virginity?
  8. What are some of the rhetorical and literary techniques Stead uses to gain the support of his readers?
  9. What does the different treatment of Stead and Rebecca Jarrett in the aftermath of the scandal tell us about class and gender during the Victorian period?
  10. Did W. T. Stead’s means justify the ends?

Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885

  • The Criminal Law Amendment Act was finally passed on August 14, 1885
    • It raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 years of age
    • It made it a criminal offense to procure girls for prostitution by administering drugs, intimidation or fraud
    • It punished householders who would permit aunderage sex on their premises
    • It made it a criminal offense to abduct a girl under 18 for purposes of carnal knowledge (sexual intercourse)
    • It gave magistrates the power to issue search warrants to find missing females
    • It gave power to the court to remove a girl from her legal guardians if they condoned her seduction
    • It provided for summary proceedings to be taken against brothels (“disorderly houses” and “houses of ill repute”)
  • The Labouchere Amendment to the 1885 Act extended the old sodomy (“buggery”) laws to include “any act of gross indecency” committed by “any male person” (construed as any kind of sexual activity between males)
    • This amendment was slipped in at the last minute and has nothing to do with the age of consent
    • The old sodomy laws are vastly expanded – sodomy is still considered to be a criminal offense, but now includes “any act of gross indecency,” which is not clearly defined

 

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