The second oldest profession : a study of the prostitute's "business manager" / by Ben L. Reitman.

  • Reitman, Ben L. (Ben Lewis), 1879-1942.
Date:
[1936]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The second oldest profession : a study of the prostitute's "business manager" / by Ben L. Reitman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Xll subtler methods of body-letting and body- hiring have largely replaced the old frank fixed-price system. We have our equivalents of the nautch-girls of India, the sing-song girls of China and the geisha-girls of Japan. Night clubs, cabarets, road-houses, massage establishments and tea rooms not infrequently have as the chief reason for their existence their capacity to provide, a little less crudely, the amenities of the traditional brothel. Yet those of us who are old enough to be able to make a comparison, and sufficiently behind the scenes to know the facts, can but be impressed by the marked decline in full-time professional prostitution since 1918. This slump is, of course, mainly accounted for by the increase in the number of “emancipated5 promiscuous amateurs and part-timers; for prostitution has been taken up as a part-time occupation by thousands of women who rely on ordinary industry to provide their basic necessary income, but look to their sex-appeal to furnish them with luxuries and amusements which they could not otherwise pay for. It is easy to understand, and, to some extent, sympathize with, the indignation with which the established prostitute regards this new rivalry. It is an attitude almost exactly corresponding with that of all professional