Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century Canada and Attempts to Keep the Nation Pure
Prostitution in nineteenth-century Canada was an anomaly that escaladed when settlers came to Canada during the Barkerville Gold Rush. The most influential group over prostitution were Indigenous women because they had contradicting morals to Canada; “many of the taboos normalized and universalized by [Canadians] simply did not exist in [Indigenous] societies,”[1] and they had no desire to accept what Canada believed. Indigenous women’s sexuality effected how sex was perceived within Canada; their willingness to provide this urged the notion that “men can control their sexual [craving], but male culture teaches them otherwise.”[2] Reform movements were started in order to sustain a Victorian colony and ensure the morality of women throughout this time of change; bills were implemented and organizations created but many colonizers neglected these efforts. Indigenous morals assimilated into Canadian culture when “crown policies were created…with the goal of assimilating and “civilizing” [Indigenous] peoples based on a European model.”[3] Reform attempts to change how particular groups functioned in order to better society failed and drove people to rebel. Indigenous sexuality was the most prominent aspect of their culture to assimilate into Canadian society; it not only impacted prostitution, but also changed the accepted morals among settlers.
Indigenous women in British Columbia viewed their sexuality differently than the colonizers. This difference created a stigma that Indigenous women were “fallen women” and“unworthy of respect” because “[she] could not be virtuous [to] strict Victorian standards.”[4] Victorian’s believed that “women should remain chaste and virtuous”[5] and Indigenous women did not practice this belief; therefore it was considered that they “polluted the moral as well as the physical atmosphere.”[6] Indigenous women did not see their sexuality as wrong; in fact it is noted that they often prospered from prostitution: “historians have represented the exchange of sex for money as a legitimate form of entrepreneurial activity, one that empowered [Indigenous] women and enabled them to acquire material goods and advance their status within their traditional communities.”[7] This concludes that prostitution was not always forced, but was often used as a way of support. Indigenous women were the leading participants in prostitution because “sexual services [were] not taboo in [their] societies, so what appeared to be prostitution to colonial newcomers was not morally reprehensible to Indigenous people.”[8] The influx of men from the Gold Rush took advantage of these women’s willingness of coition, but this degraded the Indigenous identity. The Gold Rush unbalanced gender ratios and therefore left some men alone; “it was generally accepted that, so long as colonial women were absent, Indigenous women could be used to satisfy what were perceived to be natural needs [of men].”[9] Indigenous women were hardly seen as human by white men: “when a non-Aboriginal man saw an Aboriginal woman, what he may have perceived was not so much her Aboriginality as her gender and, certainly, her sexuality.”[10] Men were capable to “[casually] use a social inferior for sexual pleasure”[11] and therefore enabled sex to not only be desired, but expected by men. This practice created the notion that prostitution was now “almost, if not totally impossible, to prevent”[12] because it had become a social norm. Many Indigenous people refused to assimilate and accept Canadian norms, but this did not seize their morals from impacting the lives of settlers.
In the nineteenth-century, British Columbia transformed from a “colonial outpost to a permanent settle society;”[13] therefore problems that evolved had to be tended to because people were there to stay. This was not recognized right away; for example: “it was assumed that prostitution would wither when [Indigenous] people embraced Christianity… and when [white] women and erstwhile transient white men married,”[14] so when Indigenous people repudiated assimilation and “mixed-race unions of white men with [Indigenous] women [became] standard;”[15] Canadian colonists became “[concerned] about [the] social consequences of sexual desire.”[16] Indigenous women created a normality for casual intercourse and this constructed the recognition of “the ‘social evil’ of prostitution.”[17] As stated by Jean Barman the “backbone of Victorian sexuality was the successful promotion of a version of women’s sexuality [and the] ideal of purity and sexual innocence,”[18] both of which were not practiced by Indigenous settlers. Indigenous women’s sexuality effected the perception of females and the value of sex in nineteenth-century Canada. Men began to see sex as an act for pleasure and women as a sexual objects; sex became “[men’s] own gratification [with] the very women [he] had turned into a sexual object.”[19] Canadian’s began to “fear aboriginal sexuality and [became] concerned that the moral fabrics…would be undermined by miscegenation”[20] preventing the “designing and building [of a] white society.”[21] There are records of white settlers witnessing Indigenous women and white men together with disgust: “there was an almost constant ingress and egress of white men and Indian women– I heard most disgustingly lewd and obscene language from the lobby and in front of the building– On Thursday and Saturday nights I saw men come from the building in company with Indian women.”[22] When Indigenous women were seen with white men it is noted that they were automatically perceived to be prostitutes and are mentioned as “squaws”[23] and “wretched women.”[24] To “tame the wildness associated with Aboriginal sexuality [which had] permeated settler consciousness”[25] Canadian reforms such as the Young Women’s Christian Association(YWCA) were created.
The YWCA was developed by reformers as “a response and recognition [to] the changing role of Canadian women.”[26] This was used to regulate and control society in a way that would present the reformers belief “that an acceptance of Christ [leads] to a better life for all.”[27] The YWCA was not only created in response to changing roles, but also to fulfill “its desire to improve society, vested interests, values of society, organizational difficulties, and traditional responses to new problems.”[28] In order to help women the YWCA wanted “to revolutionize [and] reconstruct society… [to] a godly life… and lift up the fallen or unfortunate… and bring them near to Christ.”[29] The religious attribute did not always work to the YWCA’s advantage because Christian popularity had depleted within society and many women were not interested in their traditional role.[30] Women’s roles in the work force compelled them to take advantage of the boarding houses provided by the YWCA because it was a respectable and cheap place to live.[31] The aim of boarding houses was “to ensure the morality of working women… through the creation of a controlled environment… unfortunately, the ladies of the YWCA did so in a way that was highly insulting.”[32] The YWCA “was oriented towards reform. Its concern was not, like charitable endeavours, to see that the poor survived, rather it was to ensure that women workers remained respectable.”[33] They focused on the domestic life of working women and cut them off from temptations within society by placing them in a controlled living environment; “reflecting the charitable as opposed to reform impulse”[34] and influencing members to work in a “we/they context [; creating] little feeling of affinity with [the] boarders.”[35] A boarder in a Toronto YWCA wrote:
Ladies, I regret to have to trouble you with any complaint from me as regards this Institution but it were better you should hear them openly from me than to hear from others. I came here with the expectation of finding a kind and Christian home but at present it cannot take that name. It is a libel on the word Christian. For where there is no kindness to the sick or suffering there is no love of God. We have a blessing asked at meal times and prayer in the evenings but they are mere forms I think for were they true sentiments of a Christian heart, you would be treated half kindly or even with respect, but as it is we who pay our [$3.00 per week] are treated as though we were taken of [sic] the streets and should be thankful for even a crumb of Bread. I am not one who has just left my mother’s knee but have taught school for five years and of course make allowances for all boarding houses, but I never was treated by servants as I am by those who call themselves Ladies. I was glad when I heard of this Institution being opened and supposed many could avail themselves of such good protection and a Christian home.[36]
Boarding homes could have urged women to rebel against the reform because of apparent atrocious treatment which aimed to “remove girls from the world of temptation [so] their lives [could] regenerate.”[37] The concern within the middle class that women’s involvement within the work force would lead to a decline in morals is appropriate[38], but another concern should have been treatment within boarding houses because it left many mistreated females on the street with no way to support themselves.[39] Women no longer disregarded the YWCA due to their ‘social gospel’ beliefs, but rather their contradicting actions to their godly morals.
After confederation there was a decline of Indigenous participation in the sex trade “as non-aboriginal prostitutes from the United States, eastern Canada, and northern Europe displaced [them].”[40] Reform efforts to arbitrate concerns of prostitution only positively impacted it: women brought to Canada to balance gender ratios created more participants for sex trade. Reforms that forced women to modify their lifestyle were perceived to be changes that would correct men’s sexual desires; therefore they rebelled: “in the mid-1800s, groups of women began organizing to fight against a diversity of social ills and injustices.”[41] Reform was no longer seen as a way to improve society, but rather seen as a time of “laws that condemn [women] to the slavery of a barbarous age.”[42]
Canada was naïve to the hardships of colonization. When Indigenous people repudiated assimilation and “mixed-race unions of white men with [Indigenous] women [became] standard”[43] Canadians tried to eliminate the problem by establishing reforms. The reform efforts induced change, but in a way that was forceful and unrealistic. It was assumed that change would be easily accepted, but because Indigenous people chose to accept their norms despite severe punishment[44] other colonizers were influenced by their actions and also rebelled. Canada’s attempt to assimilate the Indigenous population only made their beliefs and sexuality more prominent; thus influencing colonists to act in similar manners despite measures to counteract this problem. Indigenous sexuality not only impacted prostitution, but also changed the accepted morals among Canadian settlers.
