Since brothels are the very manufactories of lies, the harlot's word upon this subject cannot be received, for her very success in trade is dependent upon seemingly insatiable passions. But it is well known that after a woman enters upon a life of prostitution she soon passes from a stage of hyperesthesia to anesthesia, i.e., from a high degree of erotic feeling to one of almost complete coldness, and that she soon becomes frigid to most men. The sexual embrace in women requires for its full enjoyment a physiological condition of love, which is necessarily wanting in the harlot.
It is quite certain, then, that women do not naturally possess anything like the degree of sensual passion which is common among men, and that the psychical elements of love and confidence play a much more intense part in their enjoyment of the act than do the physical sensations.
Granting that there are exceptions, we may, however, almost eliminate the lustful desire as being in any way an important impulse in leading women into the harlot's manner of life. A very considerable number of born and bred ladies unquestionably lapse from virtue, but they rarely sink to a life of prostitution in which they expect the payment of money for their favors.
The vast army of prostitutes is, on the other hand, almost entirely recruited from women of the lower walks of life, such as domestics, shopgirls, factory girls, emigrants, chorus girls, ballet dancers, and other similar classes.
Conceit of their personal charms or adornments, a morbid craving for flattery, desire for indiscriminate admiration, or for presents or applause, and an overweening longing for the society and companionship of "fine gentlemen", lead them at first to walk on the brink of the precipice, over which they soon fall.
A girl who has some comeliness of face or figure, and who dresses attractively, may keep company with men who are socially far her superiors, and sometimes is blinded by the opportunities to enjoy wine suppers and the "friendship" of men whom she could not approach without consenting to do things bordering on the verge of a downfall. First comes the flirtation, then the secret meetings, the caresses and fondling, the protestations of regard or even love, and then the deadfall trap, which is so set in the dreadful ditch as to fall upon and crush her.
When a girl of fair intelligence who has to work for a living looks about and thinks, she must observe that no industrial career offers immediate returns which will in any way compare with the amount of money she can make by adopting the life of a courtezan.
She must observe that the same men who treat her insolently and heartlessly as employers of her labor will shower favors upon her if she will give up her person to them.
By selling the first bloom of her youth and beauty she can, without the slightest exertion, indulge herself in every vain wish of her heart, such as expensive clothing, jewels, rich living, and association with "gentlemen".
If she remain virtuous she sees no reward, but, on the other hand, a life of toil and plain dressing, rebuffs and contumely from her taskmasters, and no possibility of coming into friendly contact with the upper classes. "Education raises many poor women to a stage of refinement that makes them suitable companions for men of a higher rank, and not suitable for those of their own".
In her simplicity she does not see the penalties of disease, pregnancy, social annihilation, degradation and death, which vice exacts. She does not see why she should be working in drudgery at two or three dollars a week, when she can readily earn as many hundreds of dollars with no work, and enjoy an "elegant infamy". The business of prostitution, then, is followed by better success the less the prostitute knows about it, and the rich rewards come first, when she is young and pretty, and not faded by disease and debauchery. Such dangers stand in the way of all ignorant and vain young women who put themselves in the line of temptation at theatres, dance halls, picnics, and other questionable places without a chaperon.