To such an extent do many actresses minister to the gratification of the sensual desires of the public, by the subtle art of suggestion, or by artistic lasciviousness, that the police have to keep a constant watch over the theatres in order to prevent the most flagrant indecencies. At the World's Fair in Chicago all kinds of new sensual dances were introduced into the country from all parts of the world, the most familiar to the public being the " Danse du Ventre," and the "Kutchi-Kutchi". Those who saw these performances could not fail to realize that they were beholding almost naked prostitutes, who were using every effort in their power to sexually excite the audience; and, to a lesser degree, the same can almost be said of the ballet girls, who manage their limbs and their scanty drapery in ways which, to say the least, are impossible for pure womanhood.
These girls who perform in the ballet, or who otherwise appear in immodest parts, can be put down, not invariably, but almost without exception, as loose women. Subjected to familiarity, coarse jests, and sensual admiration, and being as a matter of course both vain and poor, they fall easy victims to the debased profligates and fast young men who are so easily admitted to their acquaintance.
Both in Europe and America these so called actresses the chorus girls and dancers are classified en masse as loose women, and they are known by the medical profession to be more uniformly infected with venereal disease than are any other class of women. Nor can this be wondered at: Going from town to town, drinking and carousing with impure men in rapid succession, elated by their association with so called gentlemen who are above their station in life, they usually submit to the sexual embrace under the disadvantageous necessity of secrecy and without any attempt at hygienic precautions, and as a natural result they almost uniformly acquire venereal disease.
The modern stage is known to be the hotbed of impurity and divorce, and the actress of note who is not a divorcee or who has a clean reputation is the exception.
Mary Anderson says in her book that it was "the happiest day in my life when I quit the stage forever"; and Madame Janauschek says: "The best thing for a young girl to do, no matter how great she expects to become, is to keep away from the theatre, and do anything but go upon the stage. This is what I tell them all".
Olive Logan/ herself an actress of note, whose father, mother, and five sisters were members of the theatrical profession, felt obliged to abandon the stage, and wrote: "I can advise no honorable, self respecting woman to turn to the stage for support, with its demoralizing influences, which seem to be growing stronger and stronger day by day; where the greatest rewards are won by a set of brazenfaced, clog dancing creatures, with dyed yellow hair and padded limbs, who have come here in droves from across the ocean". Little improvement certainly has come about since her day.
It is a deplorable thing for the nation that so many of its pure women will consent to patronize these improper amusements, where they appear to revel in an improper curiosity for beholding vice in romantic and interesting guises, and where they calmly behold before the glare of the footlights the open putting to shame of feminine modesty and everything characteristic of true womanhood. Secure in the feeling that there is a respectable audience around them, they display no embarrassment at things which they would not tolerate in their own homes, or anywhere else than at the theatre.
The strongest force which should operate against the terrible licentiousness of the times will continue to remain inert so long as pure women countenance and support these amusements; for unquestionably the erotic stimuli which emanate from the modern stage cause the gravest injury to the mental health cf the community, and poison the sources from which the stability and morality of future generations must spring.