Victorian Prostitution and Jack the Ripper

In Victorian society prostitution was right around the block (literally). Prostitution was a dangerous profession, especially if the prostitute was lower class (which they likely would be). Prostitutes, who could be around the age of thirteen (because the age of consent was thirteen) could easily contract STDs. This was very common, and during the Civil War (in America) the nickname “hooker” was given to prostitutes who were approved by Major General Hooker of the Union Army, to be safe and STD free for the men in his ranks to have sex with. This was simply an interesting fact, but of course this is more of an American term but in Great Britain prostitutes had no extra fun names. If you were a prostitute in Great Britain with more money you were able to be more picky and as a result able to skip those with STDs. Prostitution, although widely practiced, was looked down upon in society. People did not tend to pity or care for prostitutes, and when one was killed just like today, less people are concerned. The only reason people became interested in the deaths of some of the prostitutes who were Jack the Ripper’s victims was because of the fashion they were killed in, along with the messages he left with the Police. It is also interesting that it is believe that there may have been possibly earlier victims that can not be confirmed as his, of course. He took advantage o the situation these women were in, being poor and sometimes alcoholics. Just like today, prostitutes are unable to get out of this line of work successfully, and those that do are the lucky ones. Really, not much has changed because there are still Jack the Killer’s out there, just considerable less brutal unless were talking about Dexter’s brother (Dexter the older TV series).