Selling Sex

William W. Sanger. The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

By the 1830s, cities were beginning to take the problem of prostitution much more seriously, largely as a result of the strident efforts of reformers such as the New York Magdalen Society. New York City aldermen commissioned Dr. William W. Sanger to examine the subject in depth. His History of Prostitution is perhaps the most detailed, sympathetic, and objective study of prostitution in New York City. Sanger interviewed 2,000 prostitutes, gleaning information not only regarding what they earned, their expenses, and health conditions, but also their backgrounds, including upbringing, religion, ethnicity, occupation, and marital status, thus showing how factors such as lack of parental oversight, low wages, and domestic abuse could inexorably lead women into the profession.

See some of Sanger’s data here.