Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:05 am
new book
Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
By Michael Rutter
(review by T.D. Griffith)
http://www.deadwoodmagazine.com/article.php?read_id=127
In this exploration of ladies of negotiable virtue, author Michael Rutter bypasses the apparent incongruity of a scholarly approach to prostitution with well-researched, colorfully written vignettes dedicated to some of the lost souls of this age-old industry.
A veteran writer with some three dozen books to his credit, Rutter pulls no punches as he explores the role of prostitution in the West, why women became hookers, what their lives were like, and hazards of the occupation including disease, violence, pregnancy and addiction. He also examines the notorious Chinese sex trade, in which the youngest of girls were sold into a life of slavery then discarded like a worn bedspread when they no longer generated profit for their masters.
This engaging and insightful study into brothels and boomtowns not only looks inside the world’s oldest profession, it sheds light on the hierarchy that existed between dancers, parlor girls, brothel workers, crib girls and streetwalkers, all supplemented by illustrations and historical photography.
Rutter is at his best when he provides profiles of individual prostitutes and the few who actually left their profession with a bankroll capable of funding a new life, far from the watered-down whiskey, glassy eyes and sagging mattresses associated with upstairs girls.
The author also touches on numerous Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota boomtowns and brothels that attracted droves of soiled doves and dancehall girls – places like Deadwood and Lead. Among those Black Hills characters Rutter memorializes are Calamity Jane, Deadwood Dick, Poker Alice, and a once-striking French girl who became known as Madame Moustache.
From Big Butt Annie and Raunchy Rachel to Big Nose Kate and Nellie the Pig, Rutter provides a less-than-titillating but highly readable account of the “working girls” who rarely ruled the West and more often, simply served those who did.
Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
By Michael Rutter
(review by T.D. Griffith)
http://www.deadwoodmagazine.com/article.php?read_id=127
In this exploration of ladies of negotiable virtue, author Michael Rutter bypasses the apparent incongruity of a scholarly approach to prostitution with well-researched, colorfully written vignettes dedicated to some of the lost souls of this age-old industry.
A veteran writer with some three dozen books to his credit, Rutter pulls no punches as he explores the role of prostitution in the West, why women became hookers, what their lives were like, and hazards of the occupation including disease, violence, pregnancy and addiction. He also examines the notorious Chinese sex trade, in which the youngest of girls were sold into a life of slavery then discarded like a worn bedspread when they no longer generated profit for their masters.
This engaging and insightful study into brothels and boomtowns not only looks inside the world’s oldest profession, it sheds light on the hierarchy that existed between dancers, parlor girls, brothel workers, crib girls and streetwalkers, all supplemented by illustrations and historical photography.
Rutter is at his best when he provides profiles of individual prostitutes and the few who actually left their profession with a bankroll capable of funding a new life, far from the watered-down whiskey, glassy eyes and sagging mattresses associated with upstairs girls.
The author also touches on numerous Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota boomtowns and brothels that attracted droves of soiled doves and dancehall girls – places like Deadwood and Lead. Among those Black Hills characters Rutter memorializes are Calamity Jane, Deadwood Dick, Poker Alice, and a once-striking French girl who became known as Madame Moustache.
From Big Butt Annie and Raunchy Rachel to Big Nose Kate and Nellie the Pig, Rutter provides a less-than-titillating but highly readable account of the “working girls” who rarely ruled the West and more often, simply served those who did.