How Can We Aid?: On Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal, Progressive Era Sex Work, and Morality

     "When a vessel, its crew and passengers, are wrecked, thousands and thousands of people hear and repeat over and over the tale of dreadful disaster. 'That fearful shipwreck, the loss of life and property.' The daily press reports and the people tell with exactness just the number of souls on board, and mourn that freight and vessel have gone down — lost. Alas! who knows of the hundreds of thousands of weak and erring girls that are going down, down, lost, perishing in this sea of vice that rolls in and about us on every side. The press may tell a part — doubtless would be willing to tell more — but the people draw the veil, saying, 'It is too horrible to read of such things in our daily papers.'"- Mrs. Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal, 1893 (148). 

Mrs. Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal

            In these words, Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal does an impressive job of pointing out the stigma that surrounded prostitutes at the end of the 19th century. People didn't want to acknowledge sex work was happening then. Honestly, I think the quote could still apply today—sex workers are often either too taboo to talk about or used as a punchline.

            Her words, from the Congress of Women held in Chicago in 1893, employ an extended metaphor comparing boat crews to prostitutes and lighthouses to homes for "fallen women" (148). She points out that although the government built lighthouses and has life preservers and lines to rescue drowning crew members, Christians rarely worked to save sex workers. Although Christians seem to have homes for everyone else—the elderly, the blind, the incurable, etc.—homes for prostitutes "[stood] out in the loneliness of [their] unpopularity" (148). To Harrington D'Arcambal's disappointment, not even Christians were immune to the stigma surrounding sex work.

            Christianity heavily impacts the way that Harrington D'Arcambal views sex workers. She worked for the reformation of prostitutes for over 25 years, motivated by Christ's love. She explains that Jesus inspired her and others "to enter the vineyard, and with loving hands and kind words reclaim many a weak, sinful girl, and draw her away from sin and hell up into a purer and better atmosphere of light and life" (149).

            While her intentions were clearly honorable, the influence of Christianity on her work caused her to pass judgment on the prostitute's choices. She uses words and phrases like "an ocean of vice," "weak and erring," "fallen," "poor, perishing souls," and "sin," (the latter a full 13 times in three pages) (148, 149, 151). Even when acknowledging it may be possible to prevent sex work, she remarks rather condescendingly, "humanity is and has ever been prone to err. So we must find some way to reach these unfortunate creatures" (149). Most importantly, her writing fails to take a critical look at the reasons a woman may have sold sex: economic struggles, trafficking or coercion, or perhaps even for pleasure.

            Instead, she condemns them as sinners who must be "reformed." However, she completely fails to criticize or even mention the "sin" of the men who bought services from the women. She does, though, criticize Christians who abandon "these poor outcasts" using my favorite Bible quote: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone" (149).

            During the Progressive Era, which begun just around the time that Harrington D'Arcambral wrote these words, the narrative of white slavery began. Even though more women of color were victimized in the sex trade, white women were portrayed as being drugged or imprisoned as being forced into prostitution. At the same time, two "types" of prostitutes came into the picture-- the "innocent" victims of the sex trade and the "fallen" who chose the work of prostitution of their own free will (Bromfield, 130). Note: In a study of sex work at the time, only about 8% of respondents cited "white slavery" or "extreme coercion" as the reason they became prostitutes (Bromfield, 131).

            Unsurprisingly, the ones who received help and protection were the almost always the "innocent", and the "fallen" were condemned (Bromfield, 130). Compassion was only extended to victims, despite the fact that being a prostitute during the Progressive Era was not a safe job. In fact, those who chose sex work were dubbed "feebleminded" and endured the cruelty of forced sterilization (Bromfield, 132). In future posts, I expect the moral disapproval of sex work will return as a topic, as it still has not disappeared from American culture.

            The key point Harrington D'Arcambral's words can teach us today is that the moral condemnation of sex workers is unproductive and un-feminist. If we cast judgment on sex workers rather than helping them to live and work in (or leave) the sex industry in a way that is liberating for them, we are not aiding them. The question "How can we aid?" is still, and always will be, necessary.

Works Cited

Bromfield, Nicole F. "Sex Slavery and Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States: Historical and Contemporary Parallels, Policies, and Perspectives in Social Work." Affilia 31.1 (2015): 129-39. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Harrington D'Arcambal, Agnes L. "How Can We Aid." The Congress of Women: Held in the Women's Building, World's Columbian Exposition. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1984. 148-51. Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 [Alexander Street Press]. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.