By Annabelle Katumba. To please a man I did wrong at first, then I was flung about from man to manโฆBy men we are examined, handled, doctored and messed with. In hospital it is a man again who makes prayers and reads the Bible for us. We are up before magistrates who are men, and we never get out of the hands of men.
Victorian society 6 was desperate to decrease the number of girls having sex out of wedlock. It was assumed that knowledge of anything sexual ruined a girl, regardless of whether she initiated the contact or not. Following the opening of Association, the home relocated within Birmingham and was renamed as Mrs.
The aims remained the same and the young women were still subjected to similar rules, like restrictions on visitors. The home only accepted young first-time offenders believing that repeat offenders would disrupt younger girls. Religious Context. Much like the biblical figure Mary Magdalen, through religious growth, girls who led a sinful life could change and be forgiven for their past transgressions.
Aside from the growing number of preventive homes being created there seemed to be a general fear around the consequences of increasing prostitution. The creation of organisations like the Birmingham Poor Law Guardians inspired by Anna Lloyd illustrates how influential women, whom typically had middle-class status, vocalised their concerns surrounding prostitution.
Interestingly, there was no such refuge for boys who had poor economic backgrounds or had been sexually abused. Blame for the possible corruption of the middle-class construction of femininity was linked to working-class parenting.
