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laconicflow t1_ix5ge7n wrote

Reply to comment by nobody_you_know in Completely hooked by the writing style and research into "the Five" by Hallie Rubenhold. "There are two version of the events of 1887. One is very well known, the other is not." The five are the victims of Jack the Ripper and had always been labelled prostitutes, but they were not. by LJRGUserName

What difference does it make if they did or didn't, either way they didn't deserve to get their livers ripped out.

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cursethedarkness t1_ix5kwkn wrote

It makes a difference because the label prostitute is still used as a shorthand that a woman wasn’t a valuable human being. It would make me wonder about the political agenda behind the reporting of the murders (I haven’t read the book, it’s going on my list now).

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laconicflow t1_ix6cn3s wrote

Thing is they probably were prostitutes. The number of full and part time prostitutes in Victorian London was high, high, high. A book claiming they were not prostitutes indicates some type of bias as well.

Jack the ripper books are often biased in one way or another, They all Love Jack by Bruce Robinson is a great example of a great book with a strong bias.

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LiliWenFach t1_ix92l8c wrote

If you read the book it literally debunks the assumption that prostitution was a career choice or a chosen job. Lots of Victorian women engaged in transactional sex - but is being coerced or doing it once because you are starving and desperate the same as being a prostitute as an occupation? That's what the book explores.

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Pretty_Trainer t1_ix6pxg6 wrote

One difference is that it caused people ever since to stop there. Jack the ripper killed prostitutes. Cue a million crime dramas with the same storyline.

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This book is phenomenal. She restores their stories, their individuality, their dignity, and she indicts victorian society which is what led to these women sleeping rough, being murdered, and then being written off as "just prostitutes". Of course prostitutes don't deserve to be murdered. But this story is so much more interesting than that. I cannot recommend the book enough.

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laconicflow t1_ix6y6x2 wrote

If you'd like another great book about Jack the Ripper, check out They all Love Jack, by Bruce Robinson, wonderful style.

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Pretty_Trainer t1_ix73w8l wrote

that's kind of the point though, the five isn't about the murderer.

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