prostitution, with one London newspaper describing ‘ numerous prostitutes which infest that
quarter’ [emphasis added]. 35 These fears of criminal over-crowding could have considerable
implications for sex workers’ lives. Laite argues that once the label ‘common prostitute’ had
been attributed to a woman, it became a legal status that was difficult to evade. Later in the
century, when finger-printing techniques were introduced, sex workers’ physical identities, as
well as their personal, became permanently criminalised. 36 Likewise, during the period of
criminal deportations to the Australian colonies, a form of policing aimed at solving
population pressures, prostitutes accounted for around 20 per cent of prisoners – their
criminalised sexual bodies a justification for physical displacement by authorities. 37 The
policing of prostitution, thus, sought to control sexual bodies to conciliate public fears
around urbanisation.
Yet, contemporary policies to sex work were not universally adhered to by those
doing the policing. Louise Settle argues that conviction rates of prostitution in Scotland
sharply declined after the First World War because of increasing empathy within the police
force towards women who sold sexual services. She suggests that, in spite of abundant and
stringent legislation regarding the public solicitation of sex, many officers, including high
ranking commissioners, viewed these policies with apathy and openly spoke of their
preference for reform rather than punishment. This seems to have reflected changing
attitudes that recognised economic hardship over moral inclination as the main cause for
undertaking sex work. 38 This demonstrates that the existence of legislation was not
necessarily representative of individual attitudes towards policing sex work.
35 The Sun (London) , 14 September 1833, p. 4, British Newspaper Archive [Accessed 27/02/2023] 36 Laite, ‘Taking Nellie Johnson’s Fingerprints’, pp. 101, 104 -108 37 Frances, pp. 9-10 38 Louise Settle, Sex for Sale in Scotland: Prostitution in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1900-1939 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), pp. 24-29
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