Naturally in this we see no more than a favouring factor of the appearance of prostitution in the mass; we do not speak of it as the definite cause of the production of any individual prostitute.
Speaking generally, I consider the dispute regarding the causes of prostitution as superfluous; a number of causes are in operation, and in each individual case it is always an unfortunate concatenation of circumstances, of subjective and objective influences, which have driven the girl to prostitution. The various theories regarding the causes of prostitution have therefore only a relative value. Not one of them explains it wholly; each explanation demands the assistance of others.
This is, above all, true of the celebrated theory of Lombroso, regarding the “born prostitute,” a theory which states, to put the matter shortly and clearly, that the girl is born with all the rudimentary characteristics of a prostitute, and that these rudimentary characteristics have also a physical foundation, in the form of demonstrable stigmata of degeneration.
Lombroso’s “born prostitute” is, above all, distinguished by a complete lack of the moral sense, by typical “moral insanity,” which is the true “root” of the prostitute life, for he regards that life as very little dependent upon the sexual. Prostitution, therefore, according to Lombroso, “is only a special case of the early tendency to all evil, of the desire which characterizes the morally idiotic human being from childhood upwards, to do that which is forbidden.”[286] The individual cause of prostitution, according to this view, is to be found, not in the sexual, but in the ethical province. With the ethical defects are associated greediness, the love of finery, a tendency to drink, vanity, dislike of work, mendacity, and an inclination towards criminality. To this moral degeneration there corresponds the presence of stigmata of degeneration, such as anomalies of the teeth, cleft palate, abnormal distribution of the hair, prominent ears, asymmetry of the face, etc.
The above-described type of degenerate woman does, as a fact, exist. But, in the first place, such women constitute only a small fraction of prostitutes, and such women are found following other occupations. Thus, the expression “born prostitute” is a false one; it should run, “born degenerate,” for not all born degenerates become prostitutes.
In the second place, not all degenerate prostitutes are born degenerates. In many cases the degeneration is a result of the professional unchastity.
“No one,” says Friedrich Hammer, “who has not personally investigated the matter can conceive how rapidly and completely the process of transformation from an honourable girl into a prostitute proceeds—the transformation into a street-walker. A few weeks before she was clean-looking and trim, perhaps with a somewhat frivolous appearance, but still able to understand the position in which she found herself; now, however, she seems to have completely ‘gone to pieces’; she is dirty and verminous, and on her face is an expression of absolute wretchedness, not, as you perhaps might imagine, of unbridled sensuality—no, rather one of indifference, of complete helplessness and loss of will, of unresponsiveness alike to punishment and to benefit.”[287]
The earlier investigators of prostitution, including the first of all, Parent-Duchatelet, did not fail to recognize that the mental and physical abnormalities of the prostitute were changes due to her mode of life. In many prostitutes we can observe a typical obliteration of the secondary and tertiary sexual characters after a prolonged practice of their profession. Virey remarked, very justly, that “in consequence of the frequent embraces of men, prostitutes gain a more or less masculine appearance”: their neck is thicker, their voice harsher and more masculine (J. J. Virey, “Woman,” pp. 157, 158; Leipzig, 1827).
Most prostitutes have done more or less injury to the functions of the human body, have completely disordered their sexual life, and are sterile. It is not to be wondered at that this sometimes manifests itself in their outward appearance—as, for example, in the slight development of the breasts, which often amounts to a simple atrophy. The “unmistakable development” of the tertiary characters of the male in individual prostitutes, which has led Kurella to propound the interesting hypothesis that prostitutes are a sub-variety of the homosexual,[288] rests for the most part upon their assumption of a masculine mode of life and masculine habits, which in the long-run cannot fail to influence also the bodily development—as, for example, smoking and the excessive use of alcohol, pot-house life, gluttony, and other masculine habits. The “deep masculine voice” of many prostitutes is unquestionably in most cases the result of the excessive use of tobacco and alcohol. To this striking gradual change in the voice Parent-Duchatelet devoted considerable attention (vol. i., pp. 86-88, of the German edition); it also attracted Lippert’s notice. Parent-Duchatelet refers the common development in prostitutes of the masculine voice to their excessive indulgence in alcoholic beverages, and to their exposure to frequent changes of weather (catching cold, etc.). Smoking also certainly plays a part.
Lippert draws attention to other changes (“Prostitution in Hamburg,” pp. 80 and 90):