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
  1. Pho Bono Publico, “The Dance Houses,” The Daily British Colonist, December 23, 1861, http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18611223uvic/18611223#page/n0/mode/1up
  1. “Brothel Culture, Sex Workers and Johns in 19th-century Toronto,” University of Toronto, August 8, 2016, http://guides.library.utoronto.ca/bawdy