The Underworld Sewer

by Washburn, Josie; Wood, Sharon E.

• ISBN13: 9780803297975
• ISBN10: 0803297971
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-11-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

For twenty years Josie Washburn lived and worked in houses of prostitution. She spent the last twelve as the madam of a moderately fancy brothel in Lincoln, Nebraska. After retiring in 1907 and moving to Omaha, she turned to "throwing a searchlight on the underworld," including the "cribs" of Nebraska's largest city.The Underworld Sewer, based on her own experience in the profession, blazes with a kind of honesty unavailable to more conventional moral reformers. Originally published in 1909,The Underworld Sewerasks why "the social evil" is universally considered necessary or inevitable. Washburn minces no words in exposing the conditions that perpetuate prostitution: the greed and graft of landlords, pimps, alcohol vendors, dope dealers, police officers, city administrators, and politicians; the competition for circulation by sensation-seeking newspapers; the indifference or intolerance of law-abiding, church-going citizens; the false modesty that prevents family discussion of venereal disease; the double standard that allows men to indulge their sexuality but punishes women who do so. This knowing social history and commentary on human nature is transfixing. Through her strong words, Josie Washburn, a shrewd businesswoman, was determined to end the social evil by giving a voice to its victimsmainly the women who sold their bodies and who had reason to hate the buyers.

Author Biography

Sharon Wood is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

I. THE EVIL	7	(12)
II. IS IT NECESSARY	19	(8)
III. THE HOLD-UP	27	(18)
IV. THE MAN LANDLADY	45	(8)
V. HISTORY OF THE ONE-YEAR WAR	53	(47)
VI. MAN THE AGGRESSOR	100	(6)
VII. OUR SOCIETY	106	(10)
VIII. A CAUSE	116	(13)
IX. BETRAYAL	129	(7)
X. ABANDONED WIFE	136	(6)
XI. THE VAMPIRE	142	(9)
XII. THE ASSIGNATION HOUSE	151	(7)
XIII. THE DEPTH	158	(7)
XIV. THE FIRST DRINK AND THE SALOON	165	(11)
XV. MADAM	176	(12)
XVI. ONE NIGHT	188	(16)
XVII. FAIRY AND VICTIM	204	(12)
XVIII. THE RICH DAUGHTER	216	(8)
XIX. THE UNWRITTEN LAW	224	(11)
XX. PARENTS	235	(9)
XXI. REFORM SCHOOLS	244	(3)
XXII. CLUB WOMEN	247	(5)
XXIII. PLAIN TALKS, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4	252	(16)
XXIV. NATURE	268	(3)
XXV. THE CLERGY	271	(16)
XXVI. REFORM AND REFORMER	287	(16)
XXVII. DISEASES	303	(13)
XXVIII. THE INSTITUTION	316