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cursethedarkness t1_ix5kwkn wrote

Reply to comment by laconicflow 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

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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