Prostitution in Europe / by Abraham Flexner.

  • Abraham Flexner
Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Prostitution in Europe / by Abraham Flexner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    alone. They are equally characteristic marks of the clandestine prostitute, using the term in its literal meaning to designate the numerous class of profes- sional prostitutes whose real character is known only to their own clientéle and their close female com- panions; of the occasional prostitutex—women who alternately emerge from and relapse into an irregular life; of the incidental prostitute,—those who carry on more or less prosiitution without interrupting some honourable employment; of women who practise prostitution under cloak of other occupations; of women, who ceasing to be kept as mistresses practise prostitution as a stop-gap until.a firmer footing is once more found; of women who reserve themselves by express arrangement for a small group, none of whom can alone afford their support ; of women, who faithful to one individual at a time are still taken up by a succession of men paying for favours; finally of married women, by no means always of the lowest classes, who, perhaps irreproachable in the eyes of the world, are not above earning through ignominy the price of luxuries. Here are eight different cate. gories, falling outside the narrow conception of prostitution, but nevertheless belonging to prostitu- tion, if prostitution is conceived to be characterized by barter, emotional indifference, and promiscuity. For this broad construction there exist the most substantial of grounds. Why do we object to pros- titution at all? Obviously, it is repugnant for one or more of several reasons; in the first place, because of
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