Teasdale Vice Committee
1914 Report on Women in Prostitution
The Teasdale Vice Commission was a report chaired by Senator Howard Teasdale in 1914 regarding the issue of women in prostitution. This extensive 250+ page report written and funded by government officials displayed a fascinating amount about women and their place in society during the progressive era.
Language Used
The first thing one may notice when viewing this report was the way in which it represented the women themselves. Specifically, the way the report describes women, and the actual language and word choice used really stands out, and presents a look in to the gender views at this time. Within the introductory portion of this report, a passage gave a summary of the societal duty each citizen has to, “throw greater protection around women and girls, especially those alone… with the possible exception of mental defectives… society may safely assume that women wish and strive to avoid immorality and unnatural sexual lives” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 12). This passage shows how in this time period it was up to the man to protect these women, making it their duty to make sure women don’t become immoral, hinting that women cannot make decisions for themselves or look after their best interests. Later in the report, another passage that was very telling had to deal with how the writers of this report (all men) viewed the prostitutes as, “weak and ignorant women who lose their normal careers or positions” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 18). Again, the report is giving us the idea that women who are prostitutes are a societal enemy, and they do not take in to account the other reasons in which one might become a prostitute.
Individual Representation
The report itself gives demographic information but decides to completely negate their own evidence, by simply hypothesizing that women become prostitutes because their 'corrupted or immoral,' rather than looking in to the specific information they gave regarding their lives. The report asks all 60 of the prostitutes their ethnic background, religion, former occupation and wage, and the time they’ve spent in prostitution and the wage they currently receive, as well as marital status, number of children, if their parents were prostitutes, place of solicitation, attitudes towards practice, and causes for entering that field of work (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 22). Only 14 of these women were identified as Americans, while the remaining were either immigrant women or first generation American, and the majority of their former occupations were as house servants or maids (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 22). So right off the bat a trend can be seen of these women being put in tough situations, as immigrants with some of the lowest paid jobs within society. And with 30 of these women being married and a similar figure of them being mothers, this is yet again another indication of the report misinterpreting their situation (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 21). The report views their choice to become a prostitute as a moral flaw, while looking at these women's situation, a different conclusion could be reached.
Specific Accounts
In pages 23-26, the report gave a few accounts from these women specifically, and this is the section that displays the stories from the women themselves. One woman, listed as ‘GX 65’ was 23, and was noted to be able to read and write (every woman in this section could read and write, but the authors assumed otherwise until told differently), and lists her reasoning to become a prostitute as "not being able to make money any other way" (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 23). She was formerly making $3.50 a week as a house servant, and now makes $6.00 per day as a prostitute (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 23). Every woman represented in this report was making a larger salary in prostitution than in their previous jobs. While the report does give notice to the obvious fact these women received more money per day as prostitutes than in a week in their former jobs, it again misinterprets this statistic, as the authors think the reason they became prostitutes was through vices, or an intrinsic immorality. The woman specifically noted, GX 65, blatantly described her reasoning to going in to this field was due to her insufficient salary in the past, and the ability to make a sustainable living.
Relation to Women in Crime
This report gives a wonderful understanding of the social status and mobility of women in this period, which then can lend itself to showing their representation in crime. Women in this period were placed on a vicious cycle, regardless of their career, perceived morality, or any social factor, they were always placed under men. If a woman was to live a 'morally upstanding' life with a husband, family, or full time job, then she’d potentially be respected by society, but thus, still below the man. Women in 1914 had no political traction, no women in high governmental positions, very few business owners, or any position of relevance or power. Even if a woman was to become a prostitute and make exponentially more money than before, she would be labelled as insane, immoral, sick, and mentally defective. Regardless of the path chosen by women at this time, they were underrepresented and had almost zero social mobility. In addition, the report itself did no help to the social positioning of women, making them the enemy in this prostitution situation, never once mentioning the men who solicit them. In addition, the report rarely mentions men in a negative light; almost protecting them in a certain manner.