A large majority of prostitutes, then, have been placed upon the registers of the police while still under age. We may very well say, moreover, without fear of mistake, that a great part of those who are registered at a later period of life have already been among the clandestine prostitutes. Dr. Augagneur says: “How many of these women, devoted indefinitely to the life of a common prostitute, would not have fled all its horrors if a society, careless of the interests of its members, had furnished them with sufficient means of defense up to the age at which they all have succumbed,—under 21 years? When a woman has not prostituted herself before 21, she will not prostitute herself later. Look for exceptions to this rule and you will find that they are very few. The woman who is older and more experienced knows the consequences of her acts; less passionate, less weak, and less impressionable, she resists better a first temptation whose consequences she is fully aware of.[100]
However this may be, it is certain that a very great proportion of the prostitutes have taken up their profession, or have been seduced, while they were still very young. Upon this latter point the following figures enlighten us:[101] [[329]]
England.
| Age at which Prostitutes Were Seduced. | Number. | ||
| 11 | 3 | 58% | |
| 12 | 5 | ||
| 13 | 16 | ||
| 14 | 79 | ||
| 15 | 189 | ||
| 16 | 184 | ||
| 17 | 247 | ||
| 18 | 221 | ||
| 19 | 297 | ||
| 20 | 280 | ||
| 21 | 256 | ||
| 22 and over | 1,299 | 42% | |
| 3,076 | 100% | ||
In his work, “La prostitution clandestine”, Dr. L. Martineau informs us that the age at which the prostitutes whom he observed were deflowered is distributed as follows:[102]
France.
| Age. | Number. |
| 5 | 1 |
| 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 11 | 2 |
| 12 | 5 |
| 13 | 11 |
| 14 | 31 |
| 15 | 86 |
| 16 | 87 |
| 17 | 115 |
| 18 | 93 |
| 19 | 50 |
| 20 | 37 |
| 21 | 27 |
| 549 | |
| 90% of a total of 607. | |
The facts already brought out give rise to the presumption that the ranks of prostitutes are in a very large measure recruited from the less well-to-do classes, where the neglect of children has assumed enormous proportions, and not from the more favored classes where the children are carefully guarded and kept away from unfavorable influences. The correctness of this conclusion is shown by a further examination. According to figures given in the “Reports” quoted above, only 44 out of 3,076 prostitutes, or 1.4%, came from the well-to-do [[330]]classes.[103] In his “Sozialpolitisches Handbuch” Dr. Lux publishes the following table:[104]
Berlin, 1871–1878.
| Profession of the Parents of Prostitutes. | Numbers. | Percentage. |
| Artisans | 1,015 | 48 |
| Factory hands | 467 | 22 |
| Lower officials | 305 | 14 |
| Commerce and transportation | 222 | 11 |
| Agriculture, etc. | 87 | 4 |
| Soldiers | 26 | 1 |
| 2,122 | 100 |