Prostitution, Romance, and Disease


Writing about the life of Suzette inside the walls of the Chabanais was fascinating in regards to prostitution, morals, and disease.

I have to start this post, however, with a funny story. A friend at work stopped me one day in the restroom and said she wanted to write a book too. I told her she should follow that old advice, “write what you know about.” She asked me what The Price of Innocence was about, and I said, “prostitution.” We roared in laughter!

What about all that prostitution in Paris during the 19th century? Well, it served the purpose to meet the needs of men. After all, marriage was for producing children; prostitutes and mistresses were for pleasure. The brothel was a place of relaxation for men and accepted as normal practice in society.

How many prostitutes were there during this time period? This may surprise you. Brothels like the Chabanais, or mansions of tolerance, housed 15,000 prostitutes in 1883. Between 1871 through 1903, approximately 155,000 women were registered as prostitutes. The scene where Suzette goes to the Bureau of Morals to register only partially relates to the huge laundry list of regulated behavior that was given to women upon registration. It’s interesting to note that 725,000 were arrested by police for suspected prostitution because they never registered. Once again, jobs were scare for women and survival of the poor difficult. Even married women participated in prostitution.

There were roughly 125 brothels in business during the time of my story. Brothels were considered a cleaner and more regulated system of pleasure keeping individuals from sexual perversion by giving them an alternative to the trash on the streets. Pleasures for the male population were rampant on every corner, and like any other morally questionable practice, it carried consequences.

We tend to romanticize all this into lovemaking without consequences, except perhaps a baby or two out of wedlock. Unfortunately, all those pleasures carried risks—syphilis. How many had the disease? You might wish to sit down.

Fourteen to fifteen percent of deaths were attributed to the disease. Some reports carry it as high as 17%. One-tenth of the population contracted syphilis. You may think that’s not many, but one-tenth of the population equates to four million people. Syphilis was attributed to 40,000 still births yearly,when gone untreated, progressed into a dastardly end. (If you wish to be grossed out, visit Wikipedia's page.)

Half of the cases were contracted between the age of 14 and 21. Shocker! Why? Well, as one report put it, young people could not wait to dispel their chastity. Suzette was an anomaly. Of course, most boys lost it first and prostitutes were their teachers in bed.

Treatment for syphilis was inadequate and understanding by the medical community of the disease somewhat lacking. There were hospitals and clinics set up to specifically treat it, but many found it embarrassing to seek treatment. Effective treatment of the disease really didn't arrive until approximately 1910 with the arrival of better antibiotics. Earlier, Mercury and Potassium Iodide were used.

Well, so much for all that romance and free sex! Next time, I’ll post about marriage and morals. After reading all of these posts, are you glad you were born in this day and age or would you still have preferred living in an age we often think of as romantic with handsome men in fancy clothes and top hats, and women adorned in gowns and frill.

Nowadays, we’re probably a bit more sophisticated when it comes to sex and disease. After all, we’ve evolved, right? Men that sweep us off our feet today are usually wearing blue jeans and sneakers, and we can insist on blood tests before we hop in bed with them. I guess social progression does have its trade-offs, but I have a sneaking suspicion with the number of historical romances sold each year women would rather fantasize in another century.

1 comment:

Vicki Hopkins said...

Samantha Abela on WordPress
July 17, 2011 at 6:42 pm

Loved the post :) btw Syphillis was called ‘le mal francaise’ because it was most common in France than in any other European Country. Also a lot of native american tribes died out because of the imported European diseases, of which rampant was Syphilis. It is also one of the most common causes of death or which led to a painful death for many important figures as far back as the Renaissance together with gout.