Prostitution in VictoriaIt is commonly said that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. In Australia, prostitution was an integral part of the social and economic system of the early convict colonies.
The number of males on the first convict ships far outweighed the number of females roughly six to one and was perceived as a social and political problem. Those in authority believed that without a sufficient proportion of women it would be impossible to preserve the settlement from gross indiscretions and turmoil. Women were needed as an antidote to sexual deviance. It was decided it was a matter of considerable urgency to find female sexual partners for European colonists.
Women were needed as an antidote to sexual deviance
Many options were considered to increase the numbers of women and it was decided to bring in significant numbers of women convicts. For this to occur, the authorities had to transport women on much less serious offences than for those which men were transported. But the supply of female offenders was still insufficient to keep the pace of that of male convicts. This meant that, if the intention to use these women as sexual partners for convicts was to be fulfilled, some or all of the convict women would have to have multiple male partners.
The fact that 12% of convict women were recorded as prostitutes before leaving Britain no doubt predisposed them to continue their former occupation in the colony along with other conditions which encouraged widespread prostitution. There was no provision for housing for women convicts and this meant the best chance of accommodation was striking up a liaison with some man or bartering of sex for accommodation.
It is impossible to know exactly how many women engaged in commercial sex during the convict period however prostitution was obviously a key institution in convict society, providing one of the few economic options for women who supplied a high level of demand for services in such a large male population.
prostitution flourished in every late nineteenth century city in Australia even where the sex ratios were more evenly matched
The sale of sexual services was not, however, simply a product of the sex imbalance in convict society. On the contrary, prostitution flourished in every late nineteenth century city in Australia even where the sex ratios were more evenly matched. Naturally, there were the constant demands for commercial sex from enclaves of men, such as in the merchant marine and the armed forces. But colonial cities supplied other customers. It was found middle class men, chose to defer marriage until they had attained a sufficient level of financial security and were not willing to remain virgins until such time they married, generally in their late twenties or thirties. Single women of their own class were not generally willing to engage in premarital sex because this would spoil their marriage prospects. After marriage, the desire to limit the family size, increasingly evident in Australian middle class families from the 1870’s meant that many couples severely curtailed their marital sexual activity. As a result, men sought carnal solace in the arms of prostitutes.
In the 19th century, Prostitution was attractive to many women because it offered them the chance to work from home. While opportunities in shops and offices offered a slightly higher social status, it offered little in the way of remuneration. Even if a woman took only one paying customer a day, at the going rate of two shillings and sixpence for a short time, she would earn more in a week than as a skilled tailoress or a lady typist. Given these economic realities, it is hardly surprising that there was a ready supply of women to meet the demands for commercial sex in Australia’s colonial cities. A lot of women were drawn to the prostitute’s lifestyle for its own sake, as offering a more enjoyable and freer way of earning a living than other kinds of feminine work.
The growth of an urban middle class which accompanied the industrial expansion of the nineteenth century created a class of leisured wives and daughters who sought to use urban space in new ways, most notably by shopping and promenading in the central business districts. A variant of this was the fashionable Melbourne pastime of ‘doing the block’, or promenading around the Collins, Swanston, Bourke and Elizabeth Streets block of shops. With more ‘respectable’ women using the streets, the presence of what they regarded as ‘nuisances’ had to be minimised and preferably eliminated. There was an increasingly less willingness to allow the open, uncontrolled activities of streetwalkers on the city streets and of bawdy houses in their neighbourhoods.
Concerted efforts by legislatures and police forces in all the colonies to ‘clean-up’ the streets and prostitutes were a major target of this cleansing operation. Pressures on other industrialised societies resulted in legislative changes which sought to give the police greater powers to control street life. Prostitutes were especially affected by changes to the vagrancy clauses of the police offences Acts, which made soliciting by women an offence for the first time. The aim of the legislation was not to suppress prostitution entirely as legislators generally accepted the inevitability of prostitution a ‘necessary evil’.
Assuming that men’s sexual instincts would find some outlet it was argued that it was better that they were satisfied by prostitutes than translated into the seduction or rape of ‘respectable’ women. The best they could do was control its more offensive side effects which was becoming visible in the streets.
Victoria was one of the first states in Australia to legalise brothel prostitution in the 1980’s. It has subsequently been legalised/decriminalised in NSW, ACT and QLD. It was legalised/decriminalised to solve the problems such as criminal involvement in the industry, unregulated expansion, and the violence done to street-prostituted women. Legislation was introduced to diminish the health risks, particularly the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, for both prostituted women and their “clients”.
The Prostitution Control Act 1994 has a requirement that prostituted women are registered and must undergo regular health checks for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Under The Act, licensed brothels and escort agencies operate legally and are subject local planning controls to ensure they are not located close to schools and churches and other areas frequented by children, and limit the size of brothels to six rooms.
Another of the many restrictions applied to licence brothels applies to advertising and the advertising for employment. The Act forbids licensed brothels to advertise positions vacant for anything from ladies to a cleaner. It restricts the type of advertising to the point where photographic advertisements must not contain a photo or picture representing of a person unless it is restricted to head and shoulders. Even the size of advertisements is limited. Ladies descriptions must not mention race, colour or ethnic origin or even the sexual orientation.
Victoria is the only state in Australia that enforces these strict Legislative requirements.
The Scarlet Lady is a licensed brothel and adheres to all of the Legislative requirements. This is to protect both our ladies and our clients. Our ladies always engage in the safe sexual practices and condoms are always used. The changes in legislation over the years has assisted with the industry becoming more socially accepted, safe employment for ladies and a clean environment for men to engage in sexual activity.
We hope you enjoy your stay at The Scarlet Lady.
