This is my crazy rough draft of all the quotes I found and possible titles etc. This is where it all began…

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-Prostitution in Growing Canada: The Attempts to Keep the Nation Pure

-Prostitution and Indigenous Women: The Influences on Societies Values and Emergence of New Problems

 

• During the early colonial period, the sex trade involved aboriginal women and non-aboriginal men. Censorious clergymen and civic reformers depicted aboriginal prostitutes as “wretched women”; the white men who consorted with them were “dissipated” and “degraded.” 116

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• However, most commentators who were offended by the sex trade assumed that it was a temporary blight, something that would attenuate once Victoria shed its frontier image and developed into a more mature community. It was also assumed that prostitution would wither when native people embraced Christianity, when the number of white women increased, and when those women and erstwhile transient white men married, had children, and established homes and families. 116

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “The gold miners who so journed in Victoria were important to the local economy. They liked to spend their time and money in the city’s dance houses, where they could dance high-spirited reels with aboriginal women.” P. 117

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “A dance house is only a hell-hole where the females are white,” de Cosmos declared, “but it is many times worse where the females are squaws.” Thus, on “moral grounds” the dance houses were denounced as “dens of infamy,” “sinks of iniquity,” and “hot beds of vice and pollution” in the pages of the British Colonist.” P.118

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “negative attitudes towards aboriginal women may have been rooted in fears about aboriginal sexuality and concerns that the moral fabric of this outpost of Empire would be undermined by miscegenation.” 118

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “Some historians have noted that the exchange of gifts for sexual services was not taboo in aboriginal societies, so what appeared to be prostitution to colonial newcomers was not morally reprehensible to indigenous people; other historians have represented the exchange of sex for money as a legitimate form of entrepreneurial activity, one that empowered aboriginal women and enabled them to acquire material goods and advance their status within their traditional communities.” P.119

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “The motives, identities, and origins of these women were irrelevant to colonial officials who regarded aboriginal prostitutes as a nuisance” P. 119

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “Indian prostitutes” and their customers had “polluted the moral as well as the physical atmosphere” of Victoria.”119

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “In the years that followed [confederation], aboriginal participation in the sex trade receded steadily, as non-aboriginal prostitutes from the United States, eastern Canada, and northern Europe displaced aboriginal prostitutes.” P.120

Dunae: GEOGRAPHIES OF SEXUAL COMMERCE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROSTITUTIONAL SPACE: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1860–1914

 

• “Notions and practices of manhood and womanhood were central to the twinned businesses of marginalizing Aboriginal people and designing and building white society.” P. 163. Framing Woman’s History, Adele Perry

http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=11463967&S=R&D=a9h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNLe80Sep7U4zOX0OLCmr06ep7NSs664SrOWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGrtE%2BwqLJLuePfgeyx43zx

 

• “As the colonies consolidated to form the Dominion of Canada, Crown policies were created throughout the country with the goal of assimilating and “civilizing” First Nations peoples based on a European model. These policies had profound effects on Aboriginal women across the country.” Para 2, Marginalization of Aboriginal Women http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/community-politics/marginalization-of-aboriginal-women.html

 

• European men further believed that a woman should remain chaste and “virtuous,” according to their cultural and religious beliefs.  Settlers developed and held onto the mythical archetype of the virtuous Indian Princess willing to reject her own people for Christian civilization.⁶ Thus developed the Indian Princess/Squaw dichotomy, or, what Rayna Green terms “the Pocahontas perplex,” placing Aboriginal women into a restrictive binary based on European patriarchal values. If a woman could not be virtuous by strict Victorian standards, which, as Green points out was nearly impossible, she was deemed unworthy of respect. Para 13. Marginalization of Aboriginal Women http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/community-politics/marginalization-of-aboriginal-women.html
• The Juvenile Delinquents Act and Training School Act of the 1950s, for example, were established to train young women away from perceived “promiscuity” and into domesticity, forcing European patriarchal roles onto Native women.¹¹ If Native women did not recognize or obey European patriarchal roles, they could be severely punished.

Para 14. Marginalization of Aboriginal Women http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/community-politics/marginalization-of-aboriginal-women.html

• “with almost all the complaints centering on sexual misbehavior, indicates the importance of the agent’s role as custodian of sexual morality.” Para 13 Marginalization of Aboriginal Women http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/community-politics/marginalization-of-aboriginal-women.html

 

 

• “In the mid nineteenth century BC’s race and gender relations were influenced by demographic factors: white men far outnumbered white women, and mixed-race unions of white men with First Nations women were standard” P.162

Framing Woman’s History, Adele Perry

 

• “The transformation of B.C. from a colonial outpost to a permanent settle society involved the concerted efforts of reformers to replace a white male homosocial culture and mixed-race relationships with Victorian norms of upright middleclass masculinity and the respectable family.” P.163

Framing Woman’s History, Adele Perry

 

• “reformist impulse: attempts to balance gender ratio by encouraging the immigration of British women, as symbols of Victorian respectability, would have an improving influence on the heterogeneous social scene of B.C.” 163

Framing Woman’s History, Adele Perry

• Gold rush “prostitution” involved the coerced use of slave women but free women also found they could exchange sex for wealth and earnings by sexual exchange reached an all time high.  A few Indigenous women acquired new goods, and likely elevated status, amongst her people. (Windecker).   Regardless of the fact that every such sexual exchange involved a European as well as an indigenous person, white society applied the stigma to the Aboriginal women. Para 4

Native Ideas of Sexuality http://web.uvic.ca/vv/student/dance_halls/absex.html

 

• “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—pass round and go underneath it.” Ephram Evans- Court Case. http://web.uvic.ca/vv/student/dance_halls/court_trans3.html
• “I have seen when my wife was with me, white men with their arms round Indian women’s necks.” John Mendoza- Court Case

 

• “YWCA truly believed that an acceptance of Christ would lead to a better life for all. Women, who were the main support of the church, had been told this all their lives.” P.374

The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century

• “Only by removing girls from the world of temptation could their lives be regenerated.” P.375

The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century

• A major concern of the middle class about working women was the fear that participation in the work force would lead to a decline in morals.”p.381

The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century

• Presence of both sexes in work force decline morals?
• It wanted to ensure the the morality of working women and did so through the creation of a controlled environment… unfortunately, the ladies of the YWCA did so in a way that was highly insulting…” p.381

The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century

• Pg, 383 Letter The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century
• “A concern which reflected the changing role of women within Canadian society” Pg. 383
• The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century
• YWCA, like most reform organizations, was influenced in its responses to the problems of nineteenth-century Canada by many factors – its desire to improve society, vested interests, the values of society, organizational difficulties and traditional responses to new problems.” P. 384

The YWCA and reform in the nineteenth century

 

• “Records almost wholly male in impetus have been used by mostly male scholars to write about Aboriginal men as if they make up the entirety of Aboriginal people. The assumption that men and male perspectives equate with all persons and perspectives is so accepted that it does even not have to be declared.” P.238 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “English sociologist Gail Hawkes tells us that the word sexuality “appeared first in the nineteenth century,” reflecting “the focus of concerns about the social consequences of sexual desire in the context of modernity. Christian dogma defined sexual desire “as an unreasoned force differentially possessed by women, which threatened the reason of man” and the “inherent moral supremacy of men.” According to Hawkes, “the backbone of Victorian sexuality was the successful promotion of a version of women’s sexuality, an ideal of purity and sexual innocence well fitted to the separation of spheres that underpinned the patriarchal power of the new ruling class.”Sexuality, as Hawkes contextualizes the term, helps us better to understand the critical years in British Columbia, 1850- 1900, when newcomers and Aboriginal peoples came into sustained contact.

P.239 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “it was generally accepted that, so long as colonial women were absent, Indi- genous women could be used to satisfy what were perceived to be natural needs.” P. 240 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “the casual use of a social inferior for sexual pleasure.” P. 240 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• “men in power to condemn Aboriginal sexuality and at the same time, if they so chose, to use for their own gratification the very women they had turned into sexual objects.” P.240 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• Victorian England, that “sex was a necessary obligation owed to men and not one which women were permitted to talk or think about as owed to themselves.” P. 242 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• Victoria came to the throne in 1837, “basic structure of taboos was already defined: the renunciation of all sexual activity save the procreative intercourse of Christian marriage.” P. 242 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• “savages,” who were by definition “unrestrained by any sense of delicacy from a copartnery in sexual enjoyments.” P. 242 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• Moving to the nineteenth century, “Victorian sexual morality was focused on, and expressed through, the ‘social evil’ of prostitution. Prostitution was discussed in such diverse venues as popular journalism, serious weekly reviews, medical tracts and publications from evangelical organizations devoted to the rescue of fallen women

Aboriginal people in British Columbia viewed their sexuality differently than did colonizers. “Many of the taboos normalized and universalized by Europeans simply did not exist in Aboriginal societies.” P. 243 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “the wildness associated with Aboriginal sexuality had permeated settler consciousness.” P. 244 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “They scooted around, they dared, they were uppity in ways that were completely at odds with Victorian views of gender, power, and race.” P. 245 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• A Welsh miner reported back to his local cleric how “considerable value is placed on a good woman in this country.” P. 246 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “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.” P. 247 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• “about one in ten Aboriginal women cohabited at some point in her life with a non-Aboriginal man.” P. 247 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• “Confederation in 1871, to pass a bill, subsequently disallowed by the federal government, to legitimize children of unions between Aboriginal women and non-Aboriginal men whose parents wed subsequent to their birth.” P. 247 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality
• “[By] 1871 Aboriginal women had been almost wholly sexualized.” P. 249 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• The tripartite campaign to tame the wild represented by Aboriginal sexuality had two principal goals. The first was to return Aboriginal women home. The second was to desexualize Aboriginal everyday life, in effect to cleanse it so that the home to which women returned would emulate its colonial counterpart. P. 252 Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

 

• Nineteenth-century Canadians seemed divided over whether to treat prostitution as a “necessary evil” or as the leading example of male sexual coercion. Those who believed prostitution to be necessary were content to live with a double standard of sexuality, which forced “virtuous” middle- and upper class women into a straitjacket of chastity while men were encouraged to expend excess sexual energy upon a class of “fallen” women. Those who focused on the coerciveness of prostitution believed that prostitutes were the most victimized women in a patriarchal society, women who were forced to service lustful men in an oppressive form of sexual slavery.” P. 387 Backhouse
• “Discrimination on the basis of class, race and ethnic origin figured prominently in each, as immigrant and minority groups such as the Irish, black and native Indian communities suffered disproportionately.” P. 388 Backhouse

 

• “The nineteenth-century journals occasionally noted that prostitution kept unmarried men from the more dangerous vice of masturbation and seduction, and provided husbands with sexual outlets when their wives were unwilling. They were ”distracted” from attacking pure women and their wives were protected from repeated pregnancies.” P. 391 Backhouse

 

• Female apparel now
Is gone to pot I vow, sirs,
And ladies will be fined
Who don’t wear coats and trousers;
Blucher boots and hats
And shirts with handsome stitches,–
Oh dear! What shall we do
When women wear the breeches?

–Broadsheet 1851para 5. Reformers and Rebels: Women, Pants, and Power in Nineteenth Century America https://oldlandmark.wordpress.com/2006/04/05/reformers-rebels-women-pants-and-power-in-nineteenth-century-america/

• An August 1851 cartoon in Harper’s Weekly depicts women in the masculinized bloomers. They carry men’s walking sticks, smoke cigarettes and posture themselves as men. Clearly, many members of society recognized the probable degeneration of female character and conduct if the wearing of pants was widely adopted.

Some women were arrested for wearing such garments. Para 6. Reformers and Rebels: Women, Pants, and Power in Nineteenth Century America

• “The rise of biblical higher criticism in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the impact of modernism so changed the theological landscape.” 193 Canadian Covenanter in crisis: Anna Ross and modernism Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 2013 Vol. 11, No. 2, 193????212, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14794012.2013.788825
• “teaching to promote Convenanter sensibilities in Canada” 192 Canadian Covenanter in crisis: Anna Ross and modernism Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 2013 Vol. 11, No. 2, 193????212, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14794012.2013.788825

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different Aspects of Prostitution:

1. Indigenous assimilation into Canada when Barkerville Gold Rush takes place 1858

-Stigmatization of Indian women

-main women to be used in prostitution b/c they are seen as sexualized Taming Aboriginal Sexuality

–Bill in 1871 to disallow union of white men and aboriginal women

-Indigenous women do not see problem with it. They are getting things in return etc.

-They view their sexuality in different way than BC colonizers

– men outnumbered women so using Ab women who were sexualized was normal/ men did not even see ab women as women? (Red)- nuisance

 

2. How did this change Canada?

-their perspectives on sex

-men were getting sex easily and therefore kept on wanting it

-sex outside of marriage became known

-men can cheat on their wives easily

-women are becoming sexual objects (Taming Ab 240)

-loss of Christian purity

 

3. How did Canada Act to This Change?

• Reform- YWCA
• Stop the changing role of women in 19^th century
• Try to stop chance of decline in morals
• Acceptance of Christ will lead to a better life– really push Christianity
• Balance gender ratio and bring in immigrants from Britain and elsewhere
• Make ab women accept white people norms and sexuality

 

Reform brought about in negative manner women did not want to follow it

-letter about treatment within housing

– made changes in insulting way

– too aggressive in way of change? (remove girls from world of temptation)

this makes girls want to rebel against this change? Women come from over seas and replace ab women(after confed)

-only furthered ab women sexualization, they did not want to become white people that’s not who they are.

– extreme measures: prohibition/ temperance

In 1861 The Daily British Colonist[1] was a newspaper that consisted of peoples’ shared ideas and opinions. The two articles from this newspaper which I will be exploring are “A Plea For The Dance Houses” and “The Dance Houses.” British Columbia was a prospering province from 1861-1866; it was undergoing the Gold Rush and gained thousands of miners, prospectors, and adventures from. Miners would pass through Victoria to stock up on provisions before starting their journey to the Fraser Canyon, and therefore an influx of food, drink, and overnight stay was required. These were not the only provisions desired by miners though, a woman for the night to pass the loneliness of a man became vital to their experience.[2] Prostitution in British Columbia became a tourist attraction, and was “totally impossible to prevent.”[3]

The two articles were written by authors with peculiar names, Icta Mamoook and Pho Bono Publico, which insinuates the possibility that they submitted articles using pen names. It was simple to sway public opinions through newspapers and these authors’ clear opinions toward keeping The Dance Houses open for the betterment of the community may not have been the majority’s preference. These thoughts by Publico and Mamook may have influenced them to hide their  identity, “it even seems to me that these houses are doing some good,”[4] and “so far from being a nuisance, they are rather a benefit.”[5] It seems as though the articles were written by males because of the statement: “I think you will allow that in a town containing a large predominance of men, and men who by their mode of life (even suppose them to be so inclined) are precluded from marriage, it is almost, if not totally impossible, to prevent prostitution.”[6] This quote presents a predominantly male perspective of prostitution by pointing out the communities’ large male population and defending the precluded man by declaring that prostitutes were the only solution to the surfeit of men. We can also assume an author was a female owner of a brothel who feared the closure of her main source of income. Due to this fear, she may have wanted to inform the public to the positives of Dance Houses by way of opinion of a miner, “I, in the name of other miners am going to say a few words in defense of those unfortunate houses that have been branded as “dens of infamy.”[7] This quote defends the Dance Houses and continues to speak on how they were a profit to British Columbia in this era by keeping miners satisfied and returning.

The influx of out of town workers put pressure on British Columbia’s communities to make the province appealing so the outsiders would return. Work at the mine was not simple, and life in the Cariboo was undesirable; therefore, a place to drink and available women were keeping the miners satisfied. “It is natural that the miner, and especially the Cariboo miner, being during the summer time exposed to hardships, should desire to amuse himself while he is passing his holidays and in it he proves to be a little gayer than ordinary. It is because he has been deprived for a long time of any kind of amusement.”[8] This statement brings about an issue of equality between genders, bringing into question a woman’s choice for the actions of amusement. Thus, questioning whether they were slaves to the men or rather had a choice to participate. The authors lived in a time of high moral standings, they knew right from wrong, “I fear it is a necessary evil,”[9] but also realized that men had needs other than women. Prostitution was known to be the main reason for men to endure the hardships of the Cariboo, “it is one of his main reasons for coming down here, and if he can’t have that he might as well have passed the winter somewhere above or at San Francisco; and he certainly would do so next year.”[10] This clearly states that the men would have no reason to return to British Columbia if the Dance Houses were to close because they had other choices such as San Francisco which provided warmer weather and more appealing women, “most of the females there, according to appearance can be placed on higher moral platforms than these squaws.”[11] It seems as though women were the driving factor for working men all over, it didn’t matter what they looked like, it only mattered if they were capable to amuse, proving women were used as an activity for the visitors.

Prosperity did not come without effort, and British Columbia had to satisfy the needs of the outsiders so they would come back. In the articles “A Plea For The Dance Houses” and “The Dance Houses,” it is clear that Dance-Houses, or “sinks of iniquity,”[12] were the primary possessors of prostitution and therefore the reason men returned, “it is true that at present the theatre might attract him; but for how long will that last?”[13] Prostitution was more than an act; it was an attraction to the colony of British Columbia.

 

Bibliography

 

Icta Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861,

 

http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

 

Pho Bono Publico, “The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861,

 

http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

 

 

[1]  Icta Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861, http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

[2] Pho Bono Publico, “The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861, http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

[3] Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses.”

[4] Publico, “The Dance Houses.”

[5] Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses.”

[6] Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses.” p.3

[7] Publico, “The Dance Houses.” p.2

[8] Ibid.

[9] Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses.” p.3

[10] Ibid.

[11] Publico, “The Dance Houses.” p.2

[12] Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses.” p.3

[13] Publico, “The Dance Houses.” p.2

The topic I will be focusing on for my research paper is the meaning of prostitution in pre-confederation Canada. I want to focus on how women were necessary for prostitution and societies reaction to this act.  I’m interested in knowing how women’s rights influenced this, what the dominant ethnicity of women involved was, and if women felt they had a choice to take part, or if it was expected. I want to focus on the notion of consent and how this was used or not.

Statement of Process

1. My topic evolved from sexual assault of women in the pre-confederation Canada to the means behind prostitution. As I was researching sexual assault of women it seemed as though this was not a recognized concept. I find the evolution of sexual behaviors to be intriguing; especially the notion of consent. I have been to group sessions with women who have been sexually assaulted by men and have a huge heart to this matter and want to learn more. Prostitution was not my first choice of topic, but I have learned a lot from it that has benefited my knowledge and understanding.
2. I chose my sources based on the stories they told. I was hoping to get personal journals from females at this time for my primary source, but instead found myself looking at newspaper articles from a predominantly male perspective. One of my secondary sources is a website that I came across through the Internet and is based on an author named Eliza Haywood who was very influential to females during the eighteenth century, “a mystery that offered thousands of other women the advice they needed to survive their lives and relationships within eighteenth century culture.” From this website I also came across a book of hers called Fantomia. My other secondary source is an article from the University of Toronto library, if I’m being honest, I looked at this because I thought the title seemed scholarly and intriguing and to my benefit it was; this source focuses on the “Sex Work and Bawdy House Legislation.” With these articles and books I have a well rounded selection of sources that not only help the process of writing my paper, but also my understanding of the topic.
3. Before I started this research I thought that rape was known during this era. To my surprise this assumption was denied because almost all articles used the word prostitution and recognized that women did not consent to these actions. I knew that women were not equal during this time, but the extent of inequality, especially towards Indigenous women, was eye opening and heart wrenching for me.
4. The amount of similarities between pre-confederation sexual behaviours and modern society had to be the most shocking information I took away from my sources. Society has come a long way, but the issues of rape and women has not gone very far. This made me wonder whether men have ever known how to properly treat women? If prostitution is still seen an acceptable action that men to this day use, how far have we really come?
5. Next time I will try harder to get real journal documents from women of this time. I would love to talk to elderly females about their experience during this time as well and ask whether they think society’s sex culture has improved or gotten worse.

 

References

1. Icta Mamook, “A Plea For The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861, http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

2. Pho Bono Publico, “The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861, http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up

3. “Brothel Culture, Sex Workers and Johns in 19th-century Toronto,” University of Toronto, August 8, 2016, http://guides.library.utoronto.ca/bawdy

 

This is a brief overview of what I learned from my research paper:

• Prostitution was used to keep working men coming back during the Gold Rush
• Dance houses influenced prostitution since it was a place to be drunk and dance with women around
• Indigenous women were the primary peoples to take part in prostitution and were degraded for this; being called things such as “squaws”
• Gifts for sex was how prostitution started– it was not always money but gifts still supported the women and in some cases advanced an Indigenous woman’ status
• It was thought that Indigenous women would assimilate and thus stop their sexual deeds with the working men
• While primarily white working men were taking advantage of Indigenous women’s sexuality and offering of sex, they still believed that women should remain chaste and virtuous according to their religious beliefs
• Prostitution came about due to the influx of male workers in BC when the Gold Rush was happening– men were away from their wives and needed to relieve the stresses and hardships of their work
• Masturbation and seducing pure women (not Indigenous women) were worse than cheating on a wife with an Indigenous women because there were barely seen as human
• Organizations such as the Young Womens Christian Organization only pushed women farther from Christianity and living a virtuous life
• Casual use of sex for pleasure became prominent once women abandoned Christian doctrines

Reading Log Week 9: Dare to Duel?

Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995).

Stephen Bown, “Pistols at Six O’clock,” Beaver, 79: 3 (Aug/Sept. 1999).

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Cecilia Morgan: “In search of the phantom misnamed honour’: Duelling in Upper Canada”

This article is not in favour of duelling

• states that duelists were very selfish[1]
• Duelling “‘perverted’ the whole notion of manly ‘honour’”[2]
• male honour could be seen as a synonym to lawlessness, excessive pride, murder[3]
• male bodies were seen in fashion, frivolity, sexual license[4]
• duel presented uncontrolled male sexuality[5]

Strong anti-duelling perspective by the Christian’s

• true ‘Christian gentlemen’ would shun this behaviour[6]

Strong opinion that duelling was a mans way to hold honour, but this was not the appropriate way to present honour; rather it was the opposite of honourable behavior

• “physical combat to uphold manly honour was incompatible with the notions of manly virtue”[7]
• “male physical violence could not be reconciled with male virtue”[8]

(Here the author tries to get her point across strongly and repeats herself twice within the same page.)

• links dueling to aristocratic behaviour, which could have been a large factor to why people were duelling. Could it have been choice; or were they heavily influenced by the aristocrats? Did they feel like they had to do it, or were they promised gifts that would have persuaded them?
• “Male physical violence could not be reconciled with male virtue”[9]
• “Fictitious sense of honour”[10]

(These quotes come from different places within the article therefore we can get a strong sense of the authors perspective on duelling)

Women and family were strongly impacted by this behaviour; it was not only the man’s life being put on the line.

• “The popular image of duelling may have reduced it to a dispute between two men, standing at dawn in a field with pistols pointed at each other and accompanied only by their seconds and their respective horses, but those who spoke out against duelling believed that the law, the church, and the family also stood at the sides of these ‘man of honour.’”[11]
• “men’s relations with female family members might have been the ostensible rationale for the duel itself”[12]

(This quote really threw me off… After all the talk about how women were influenced negatively and stories about men deciding not to fight because of their families; this came out of nowhere. Although it does make sense when thinking about family relations during the 1800’s, the author placed this quote at an odd point within the article because it contradicts her claims that men were sensible to the family.)

Why did duelling stop according to Morgan?

• major influx of British immigrants 1830’s and 1890’s
• alteration of appropriate behavior for upper-class and bourgeois men
• Methodists promote code of manner and morality
• code of honour
• bourgeois domesticity
• “For those who abhorred duelling, the meaning of true manhood was linked to non-violence, to adherence to the law of church and state, and , most importantly, to a conception of familial responsibilities”[13]

(This quote is interesting in how it states ‘non-violence’ as a part of man-hood. How was violence recognized? Because violence only continued to occur after this; what’s the difference between killing men in war and killing men in duelling? Are both not sacrificing your life in order to uphold honour; whether it be for your family or country?)

 

 

Stephen Bown: “Pistols at Six O’clock”

The story told makes the topic more understandable and get more in depth to the feeling of how people were impacted by dueling and how it was handled by the courts

• Again we see a dueling being an action of honour, “only one way for gentlemen to settle a point of honour”[14]
• Interesting way of putting duelling, “Dueling remained fashionable though technically illegal in Perth”[15]

(This statement was interesting because it spoke of how the people in Perth were “haughty, prideful, vane and in dissipation of the half-pay officers and their ladies [who] minded nothing but dress, visiting and amusement.”[16] This brings off a vibe that the people no longer cared about dueling; it was no longer a worry to them.

• Although it states that people no longer cared they still took the time out of their day to watch. I found the people who would watch this act to be ironic. Bown states that sheriffs, doctors, First Militia Regiment, and family members watched as the two young law students stood and shot at each other… This blows my mind because you have superior figures as well as loved one just watching two young men break the law and risk their lives.)

Presents a fabulous picture of how women were impacted by this event

• “Wilson must have had a persistent sense of guilt for his gratuitous and pompous intervention in the life of Elizabeth Hughes which had undoubtedly impaired her opportunities for both teaching and marriage. … her prospects had been ruined and her reputation tarnished by what appeared to be a mere vulgar adolescent brawl.”[17]
• Despite this the two of them get married and Wilson is not remembered as a murderer but rather is “wealthy and respected”[18]

(The judicial system in the 1800’s does not make any sense but we still see cases like this today; how about Donald Trump and is rape cases? This quote also brings question to Elizabeth’s choice to marrying Wilson, did she have a choice or was she persuaded to do so in order to save his name and reputation?)

• The juries statement I cannot understand how it was justified: “That the prisoner Wilson was of humble origin and saw his prospects blasted if he submitted to the degradation and was impelled by the usages of society and the slights he had partially felt or foresaw to adopt the only alternative which men of honour thought open to them. That he to the last relied upon an amicable adjustment, went out determined not to fire at the deceased and did so at last in a state of convulsive nervousness and unconsciousness.”

I find there to be a lot of irony within this article, but sadly it was just the day and age. To think a murderer can be set free and be brought to power and remembered greatly is sickening; but as I stated previously has this changed at all in this day and age? We still elect people who have committed crimes that are worse than murder within the jail.

 

[1] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 557.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 558.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 558.

[10] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 560.

[11] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 561.

[12] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,”

[13] Cecilia Morgan, “‘In search of the phantom misnamed honour’:
Duelling in Upper Canada,” Canadian Historical Review 76:4 (1995), pp. 562.

[14] Stephen Bown, “Pistols at Six O’clock,” Beaver, 79: 3 (Aug/Sept. 1999). Para 1.

[15] Stephen Bown, “Pistols at Six O’clock,” Beaver, 79: 3 (Aug/Sept. 1999). Para 5.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Stephen Bown, “Pistols at Six O’clock,” Beaver, 79: 3 (Aug/Sept. 1999).

[18] Stephen Bown, “Pistols at Six O’clock,” Beaver, 79: 3 (Aug/Sept. 1999). Para 22.

Reading Log Week 8: Danger! Charivaris

Allan Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837” Social History 15:1 (1990).

Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the bush, or, life in Canada,
edited by Carl Ballstadt, Ottawa, 1988.

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From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837

• Use of historical stories examples, his own opinion and modern slang made the article more interesting and relatable

“it would be a mistake in my view to regard it as simply a throwback.”[1]

• Shows similarities and differences between Lower Canada’s French-Canadians to Renaissance France. Not strictly an article on lower Canada and this broadens readers understanding of charivari.

“In Canada charivari always followed a ‘mismatched’ wedding. One with a large age difference or one which involved a person who had been previously married.”[2]

“In Renaissance France charivaris were commonly work of village youth societies and directed specifically against mature widowers or outsiders who deprive local young en of a particular mate”.[3]

• It stated that they had a “punitive procedure” of humility and monetary extraction and that these “two penal techniques [were] favored by the church and criminal courts of the period.”[4]

-I find this aspect to be ironic because nowadays you would never see a church penalizing its people in such a way. It’s also odd that they would dress up and use objects such as coffins as part of this.

• It spoke of these penalties as “reintegrating ‘deviants’ rather than expelling them.”[5]

-We see this in society today because we do not kill people for their wrongs anymore, rather reintegrate them back into society and many people will personally speak on these matter to reach out to other people who might be getting involved in similar things.

• The way Greer built on the growth of charivari from the past to present was a little confusing at times. A clear definition of charivari to begin with would have been very helpful.
• How he related this to modern activities such as riots; this concept made everything clearer and made the word ‘rebellion’ in the title make sense. This example made me think of charivari as a gang.
• It said Lower Canada used mostly money for penalties, split 50/50 between the poor/charity and the participants, to pay for expenses (celebratory drinks in tavern)[6]

-the fact he added the parenthesis made me laugh, it added humor to the article. I also found it interesting how Renaissance France would use the humiliation penalty most and Canada preferred money. I think it speaks a lot for the types of countries we were, maybe Lower Canada needed the money or were they simply less cruel?

 

Roughing it in the bush, or, life in Canada

• Explains exactly what charivari is which makes the rest of the article make sense, “what is a charivari”[7] and then expands on that by storytelling
• Story-like style makes the article interesting and relatable
• Use of word “wild boys”[8] describes the people involved well and using terms that we can relate to and create a picture of
• Not having references questions reliability and the characters are not identified specifically which questions if this bias
• This article does a better job in explaining what the other article tried to

[1] Allan Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837” Social History 15:1 (1990), pp. 27.

[2] Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837” pp. 28.

[3] IBID

[4] Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837” pp. 30.

[5] Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837” pp.32.

[6] IBID

 

[7] Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the bush, or, life in Canada,
edited by Carl Ballstadt, Ottawa, 1988, p.221.

[8] Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the bush, or, life in Canada,
edited by Carl Ballstadt, Ottawa, 1988, p.222.

 

Reading Log Week 7: Gold Rush is More than Gold

Mica, Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” Aboriginal Economic Activities during Barkerville’s Gold Rush: 109-135.

Primary Documents: “BC Gold Rushes” from Thomas Thorner and Thor Frohn-Nielsen (Eds.), A Few Acres of Snow: Documents in Pre-Confederation Canadian History (3rd Edition), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009: 232-253.

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In Mica Jorgenson’s article “Into That Country to Work”[1] there is a stress on Indigenous people’s roles during the British Columbian Gold Rush in Barkerville. At this time Barkerville became “the major economic hub of the central interior of British Columbia,”[2] but laid on traditional territory of the Dakleh (Carrier) peoples. The peculiar statement that was made by Jorgenson was that “Barkerville has long been subject to the myth that no First Nations lived or worked there.”[3] It is not a secret that Indigenous peoples were stripped the rights of their land in historical periods of time, but during the Gold Rush there was no reference to the whites taking the Dakleh’s land.

There was a sense of isolation among the Dakleh peoples– they practically gave up their land and showed that they did not want to participate in the thriving Gold Rush, “…effort to prevent the gold rush. Hoping to keep their pristine lake community (Bowron Lake) from being settled and mined by invaders.”[4] The Dakleh peoples clearly had unfavorable feelings towards the gold rush, but was this event preventable? Even if the dominating white settlers received  permission of the Dakleh peoples settlers still would have come to participate; unless the Dakleh took extreme conditions to prevent it, which they were doing anyways “the account goes- murdered a white man who had come down Antler Creek.”[5] Although the Dakleh peoples were not participating in the Gold Rush, they still played important roles by packing, cattle-driving, berry picking,  letter carrying, laundry servicing, and selling salmon. Jorgenson also states they played an important role in prostitution, and then identifies that some scholars “do not even acknowledge Aboriginal people at all.”[6]

There seems to be an identity problem within the article; we are never fully aware if Jorgenson is on side with the Indigenous peoples of the time or if she sees them as foolish. She presents them a minority who stuck to the outskirts and were rarely recognized by the people of the era– as well as scholars.

 

 

 

 

 

The primary sources within “BC Gold Rushes”[7] presents a feeling of negativity towards the Gold Rush in British Columbia. This chapter presents a predominantly first person point of view and the notes within give the reading a more personal feel, thus making it easier to follow and understand. We are drawn into the actual life of men who endured the hardships during this time; their experiences opening eyes to situations otherwise unknown.

In the article “To the Editor of the Islander” we are given the experience of a man who endured mining in San Francisco as well as Barkerville. Barkerville seems to be the only gold mine that is well known, but during this time San Francisco was also a popular place to be. This miner speaks of his experiences stating that it was dangerous to gold mine in San Fransisco, but it was “where (he) found the excitement even more intense than in the mountains.”[8] The gold rush attracted all sorts of people– this is most likely because being a “gold seeker(s) required neither skills nor capital.”[9] The Gold Rush was a time of prosperity, but the prosperity did not come without hardship. At this time provisions prices heightened and men were making low wages; many living on three to five dollars a day and consuming only bread and water, “they had nothing to eat for one week, and not a cent in money. This is gold mining for you!”[10] A miner stated “do not think I have taken dislike to the country because I am not making money, the dislike is all over the country.” This man is very honest in his note, putting forward that British Columbia “can never be a place because there is nothing to support it, except the mines, which are slowly going down as well.”[11] The times of prosperity did not last forever and for all the miners who made the trip to take part in the ‘prosperity’ were confronted with a rude awakening when the labour and hours increased and pay decreased.

Canada and America did thrive from the Gold Rush, but real stories of miners are not often shown, and after reading this it is no surprise. The only confusing part of this reading was the switch between American and Canadian referencing to gold mining. The mapping of the colonies in that era was not the same as today, so throughout the reading it difficult to determine the areas referenced.

 

[1]Mica, Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” Aboriginal Economic Activities during Barkerville’s Gold Rush: 109-135.

[2] Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” 109.

[3] Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” 109.

[4] Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” 117.

[5] Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” 117.

[6] Jorgenson, “Into That Country to Work,” 112.

[7] Primary Documents: “BC Gold Rushes” from Thomas Thorner and Thor Frohn-Nielsen (Eds.), A Few Acres of Snow: Documents in Pre-Confederation Canadian History (3rd Edition), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009: 232-253.

[8] Primary Documents: “To The Editor of the Islander” 235.

[9] Ibid. 233.

[10] Primary Documents: “News From British Columbia,” 238.

[11] Ibid. 237.

Today we can see history by many laws we have in place. If people were not mistreated then we would not have laws preventing certain actions.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: foundational document for modern human rights policies, programs, and legislations throughout the world.

Why was this created? In response to WWII’s outcome. The United Nations wanted to prevent the possibility of that kind of conflict in the future. This guaranteed rights to every individual everywhere. We are all aware of Hilter’s brutality in WWII– the eugenics movement and racial hygiene program, such things are prevented today by this declaration

Thought: If Hitler did not go to those extremes and expose the world to the possibilities of such harm and disaster Trump might have been the first to introduce us to that? And we would have no laws against him.

 

Many unethical experiments have been done in the past, and thus changed how research is executed today. The outcome of research studies such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and Residential Schooling have governed research in Canada to follow general ethical principles to ensure research is done in a way that will not harm anyone. Today we have in place the TCPS2 which ensures that all research follows three criteria:

1. Respect for all persons
2. Concerns for Welfare
3. Justice

In social sciences we have learned from past mistakes; hence, creating laws and criteria to ensure unethical research does not harm anymore people than it already has. This has a toll on my life because I am majoring in sociology and therefore learn about these past experiments in many of my classes and have to use them as examples for ‘what not to do.’ History, yet again, having an impact on this day and age.

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment

Aim: To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.

Prisoners were treated like every other criminal, being arrested at their own homes, without warning, and taken to the local police station. They were fingerprinted, photographed and ‘booked’. Then they were blindfolded and driven to the psychology department of Stanford University, where Zimbardo had had the basement set out as a prison, with barred doors and windows, bare walls and small cells. Here the deindividuation process began.

Procedure: To study the roles people play in prison situations, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. He advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for a fortnight.

When the prisoners arrived at the prison they were stripped naked, deloused, had all their personal possessions removed and locked away, and were given prison clothes and bedding. They were issued a uniform, and referred to by their number only. The use of ID numbers was a way to make prisoners feel anonymous. Each prisoner had to be called only by his ID number and could only refer to himself and the other prisoners by number. Their clothes comprised a smock with their number written on it, but no underclothes. They also had a tight nylon cap to cover their hair, and a locked chain around one ankle.

http://www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html

II. Residential Schooling

“Ian Mosby, a food historian and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario), revealed details of highly unethical nutrition experiments performed on Canadian Aboriginal children at six residential schools between 1942 and 1952 (2) – our own medical atrocities. The experiments were performed by the Department of Indian Affairs of Canada under the direction of two physicians: Dr Percy Moore, the Indian Affairs Branch Superintendent of Medical Services, and Dr Frederick Tisdall, a famed nutritionist, a former president of the Canadian Paediatric Society and one of three paediatricians at The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Ontario) who developed Pablum infant cereal in the 1930s. In these experiments, parents were not informed, nor were consents obtained. Even as children died, the experiments continued. Even after the recommendations from the Nuremberg trial, these experiments continued.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941673/

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We see history everywhere; and not just in History class. I have been able to use my knowledge from this class and input it into many aspects of my other classes.

In my sociology classes I was able to relate my research on prostitution to certain topics because we focused a lot on marginalized groups and unethical treatment. In these classes is also where I questioned the notion of privileged white women such as the Fille Du Rois. In my English class I wrote a paper on mental illness within Hamlet; stating that Hamlet gave the diagnosis for our modern understanding of bipolar disorder– therefore learning from history.

My studies were strongly impacted by learning history. I never realized how prominent history is within our lives today– it’s a past that never dies.

History does not have to do with only society; it impacts each one of our lives as well. We all have our own story to tell and as we get older we are able to understand the ‘whats’ and ‘hows’ to our own life story. Sometimes it takes years to understand our past, and other times we get it right away. We never admitted to our parents that they were right about things they told us when we were all-knowing, stubborn teenagers; it took a few years for us to figure out they were right and maybe admit it. We never believed a thing we were told, but quite often it was true and we didn’t realize it until later. We are made to question things and not believe it right away without proof… sometimes you need a primary source or two.

One day we all be old and have a story to tell… we will be telling Our History within History.