Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

cannotfoolowls t1_ix4t9vl wrote

>. These 5 women didn't scream, so it's now known that they were killed while sleeping on the street.

They all slept in lodging houses, though? One of the victims was literally found in her bed. And they did prostitute themselves.

3

Linnie12345 t1_ix4zcj3 wrote

She gives some excellent arguments as to why they most likely weren't all prostitutes.

She also goes into some depth to explain the lodging system at the time and how you could still be forced to sleep on the street.

28

laconicflow t1_ix5g69f wrote

You payed a penny for a bed, right? This is what scares me about certain topics, everyboedy has an agenda and a bias, at least if you know it going in, you can account for it.

−4

LiliWenFach t1_ix5uxfq wrote

Four pence per night. Which many of them didn't have.

8

laconicflow t1_ix6c7ia wrote

Hence the street sleeping.

2

LiliWenFach t1_ix7b9lj wrote

You said it was a penny for a bed. I explained it was four pence a night, which is four times dearer. A penny could be easily borrowed. Finding four pence for a bed every night was not so straightforward.

1

nobody_you_know t1_ix5a7tg wrote

> And they did prostitute themselves.

The point of the book is literally to make a case against this assumption.

20

laconicflow t1_ix5ge7n wrote

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

3

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).

14

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.

−5

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.

1

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.

​

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.

8

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.

−1

Pretty_Trainer t1_ix73w8l wrote

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

3

gopms t1_ix5n2a8 wrote

Only the last one was found in her bed. The others were found outside. Only one was actively working as a prostitute (the last one who was killed in doors). One had worked as a prostitute about 20 years before her murder but not since and the other three had no record or evidence that they were ever prostitutes. At least according to the book.

14

LJRGUserName OP t1_ix5b8c3 wrote

No. 4 of them were sleeping on the street because lodging houses charged money.

4

LiliWenFach t1_ix5vn8i wrote

  1. Only Marie Jeanette was found in her bed. The others all died outside. Liz was in a covered alleyway, but it was still in the street. Kate, Polly and Annie were all trying to sleep outdoors.
5

LiliWenFach t1_ix5v3z7 wrote

Only one victim was found in a rented room. The others died in the streets, where it was more than likely that they were trying to sleep.

2