Later she met Simon Craw in an ice-cream parlor, flirted with him and they became acquainted. He asked her to go joy riding. She said “no”, but made a date with him to go to Lawy’s Theater. After the show they went to the ice-cream parlor and had hot chocolate. She told him she was afraid to go home so late—it was 12 P.M. He talked to a man and then said a friend had offered to let them have his room in the Triangle Hotel. She did not want to go at first, but he said if anything came up in court he would marry her. Simon’s friend took them to his room and went after coal. Meanwhile she and Simon had relations. The boys went to bed and she sat up all night in a chair, none of them undressing.
A week later, on Sunday evening she met Simon in the ice-cream parlor at 7 P.M. They stayed until 8 o’clock and then went to Lawy’s Theater. They returned to the ice-cream parlor and Simon introduced a soldier whose name she forgot. She told them she did not want to go home as it was 11 P.M. and she had promised to be home at 8 P.M. The soldier said he knew that the proprietor of the Ohio Hotel would let all three of them have one room for the night. She said: “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to be used by everybody.” Simon said: “You don’t have to,” and they persuaded her to go.[[71]]
Doctor Katharine B. Davis, formerly superintendent of the New York State Reformatory for women, at Bedford Hills, has made a careful analysis of the life-histories of 647 prostitutes committed to that institution from New York City which throws light on the conditions under which girls begin their sexual delinquency. The study shows that very few prostitutes come from homes where all the conditions are good,—good family life, opportunity for education, economic security. The occupations of the fathers show a low economic status. Of the 647 girls only 15, or 2.4 per cent, had fathers belonging to the professional classes, and this category is stretched to include a veterinary surgeon, a colored preacher, a trained nurse, a musician, etc. Thirty-four fathers were farmers or farmhands, 29 shopkeepers, 1 a brewer, 5 sea captains, 1 gambler, 106 cases where there were no records, and the remaining fathers were mainly laborers or artisans, plasterer, plumber, peddler, miner, shoemaker, blacksmith, hod-carrier. Also janitor, porter, cook, waiter, coachman, street sweeper, teamster, elevator man, sandwich man, etc.[[72]]
As to the schooling of the girls, “fifty individuals, or 7.72 per cent, cannot read or write any language. Of these 15 are American born. Thirty-two can read and write a foreign language; 45.3 per cent have never finished the primary grades, while an additional 39.72 per cent never finished the grammar grades. Thirteen individuals had entered but not finished high school; only four individuals had graduated from high school; three had had one year at a normal school, and one out of 647 cases had entered college.” In addition, the average wage of the girls who had worked was very low. This point was determined in only 162 cases. “The average minimum,” says Doctor Davis, “is $4 and the average maximum $8. It will be noted that even the average maximum is below $9, an amount generally conceded to be the minimum on which a girl can live decently in New York City.”[[73]]
In comparison with this the girls reported relatively high wages from prostitution. The average weekly maximum, as reported by 146 girls, was $71.09, and the average weekly minimum, as reported by 95 girls, was $46.02. Thirty-eight girls gave figures of $100 or more, up to $400.[[74]]
These statements, as Doctor Davis says, are to be taken “with allowances”, but other statistics show that the earnings of prostitutes are about four times as great as the same girl could make at work.
An attempt was made also in this investigation to determine the causes leading up to prostitution from the standpoint of the girl. Two hundred and seventy-nine girls gave 671 reasons. That is, some of them gave a number of reasons. Among these reasons 306 were bad family life (in 166 cases no father or mother or neither); 55, bad married life; 48, desire for pleasure (theater, food, clothes); 38, desire for money; 17, “easy money”; 20, lazy, hated work; 13, dances; 15, love of the life; 9, stage environment; 4, tired of drudgery; 5, idle or lonely; 4, sick, needed the money; 10, no sex instruction; 2, white slave; 3, desertion by lover; 10, lover put girl on street; 10, “ruined anyway”; 7, previous use of drink or drugs; 1, ashamed to go home after first escapade; 75, bad company; 5, couldn’t support self; 1, couldn’t support self and children; 13, couldn’t find work.[[75]]
In spite of the bad economic conditions apparent here and in any report on prostitution it is remarkable that very few girls ever allege actual want or hunger as a reason for entering prostitution. In Doctor Davis’ list only 23 girls named something like this among the 671 reasons. There is no doubt that economic determinism is present, that if they had an abundance of money they would not lead the life, but they are unstabilized as the result of a comparison between what they have and what they want and what others have. The servant class affords the best illustration. Between 37 and 60 per cent of professional prostitutes have been servant girls, according to different reports from different countries. The average is perhaps 50 per cent. Yet this class is well fed and housed, they supply a universal demand and have no economic anxieties. But they are treated as an inferior class, shown no courtesies, come and go by the back door; their work is monotonous and long, and they rebel against what they call “that hard graft”, and seek pleasure, response, and recognition in the evening.
The cases which I have cited do not represent at all, and the report of Doctor Davis represents only slightly, a large and equivocal class of girls who participate in prostitution without becoming definitely identified with it. The present tendency of irregular sex life is definitely toward limited and occasional sexual relations on the part of girls who have more or less regular work, and the line between the professional and the amateur prostitute has become vague.
The usual beginning is in connection with an acquaintanceship, keeping company, which is not necessarily regarded by either side as preliminary to marriage but as a means of having a good time. The charm of the girl is an asset, a lure, which she may use as a means of procuring entertainment, affection, and perhaps gifts. Where marriage was assumed as an object of association, marriage was also assumed as the payment which the girl would ultimately make as her contribution to the expense of the association, but in the more casual associations of the “great society” there has grown up a code that the girl shall pay something as she goes, and she does not pay in cash but in favors. Girls of the class who have “fellows” tend to justify sexual intimacy if they are “going to marry”, if the man says he will marry if there are “consequences”, if the relation is with only one man, and not for money. These are called “charity girls” by the professional prostitutes. When the girl has had some experience in sexual life she will multiply and commercialize her casual relationships. Girls talk of these matters, say “they all do it”, create a more favorable opinion of it, and show the less sophisticated girl how to make easy money.