April 22, Tell that to a New Yorker from the 19th century, when prostitution, along with many other vices, was just a normal part of life in the city. The bloody slaying of hooker Helen Jewett in the spring of did not end prostitution in New York City; it energized it. Five years after Helen was butchered with an ax, anywhere from 3, to 10, prostitutes worked in a community of whorehouses, on street corners and even in the balconies of exquisite theaters, where they thought nothing of propositioning men in front of their wives.
Numerous prostitutes saved room money by servicing clients in their business offices. Many staked out territories such as particular saloons or docks. One enterprising year-old girl became the prize hooker for men who worked on a particular coal barge. Prostitution was very profitable. The work was not easy for hookers, though, in whatever era they worked.
One study done in the early years of the 20th century showed that a woman in a slum whorehouse coupled with 19 men a day for a week and on one day slept with Two other hookers in that house had sex with between and men a week, and one day one of them had sex with 49 men. Some young girls would have sex with 15 to 20 men in a three-hour period.
Many of the girls were 12 and 13 and traveled the streets with a young sister, holding hands to ward off the chilly air and sometimes exchanging shoes because one pair was cut up and cold.
Women who began selling their bodies at age 20 often stopped when they turned 30 just because their looks started to fade. Men who had known them for years tired of them. Younger hookers stole their business. The high-class madams kept beautiful brothels.
