Prostitution
This wasn't the first job you tried to get, was it? Well, it happens girl. You've exhausted all your other possibilities – factories, department stores, maid service, your family. You wouldn't be calling at my door unless you really needed the dough. But since you're here, I'll admit, the money's not bad. You'll work fewer hours . . . maybe take a drop in self esteem, but that's the price, baby. Food on the table, clothes for your little girl – it'll be worth it. You start tonight.
Prostitution became widespread in the United States in the mid-1800s. The practice was generally accepted, being based on the idea that “respectable” women – namely women who were married – had no sex drives. It was thought that a woman only had sex with her husband to either please him or get pregnant. To many, prostitution purified society, allowing rich, white, married women to remain pure, while their husbands fulfilled their sex drives by using prostitutes (2). By 1910, Chicago was the site of nearly 200 houses of prostitution – and this is not counting the services that were also available in many private homes, flats, and hotels. The business brought in around 16 million per year at this time (12).
While it was understandable why a man might use a prostitute for her services, many wondered at how a girl could fall into such a profession. Not surprisingly, for most women, prostitution was not something they planned to do – instead it was something they had to do. Many women in large cities began selling their bodies after finding there were no other jobs - or at least no others that paid enough to put food on the table. Other women had followed a man to the city, only to be abandoned by him; prostitution was an option that provided them with money and helped nurse the broken heart (2).
Although Carrie was never a real prostitute, it could be argued that her role as mistress to Drouet was similar to it. Carrie did adore Drouet, but her real dependence on him was not for love, but for money. Drouet provided her with everything she could have wanted to feel happy and secure in such a big city as Chicago – with clothes, a comfortable apartment to live in, fine food, even a social life. And in turn, while Drouet adored Carrie back, one of his main incentives for taking care of her was for the sexual benefits. Sex for money; money for sex – not much different than a prostitute and her customer. And Carrie seems to realize this at some level. Shortly after meeting Drouet, Dreiser notes, “In all of Carrie's actions there was a touch of misgiving. The deeper she sank into the entanglement, the more she imagined that the thing hung upon the few remaining things she had not done. Since she had not done so and so yet, there was a way out” (4). But of course, Carrie does pass that point of no return, obligating herself to Drouet. And Drouet also appears to grasp the nature of his relationship with Carrie: “He was drawn by his innate desire to act the old pursuing part. He would need to delight himself with Carrie as surely as he would need to eat his heavy breakfast” (4).
Immigrants also found themselves entering the prostitution business - or rather were duped into entering it. Women who had just arrived in the United States were perfect targets for men who managed prostitutes because they desperately needed jobs and were overly trusting. In fact, some American men went so far as to travel to other countries to round up girls to bring back. For instance, a French woman described the way she had wound up in the United States . Back in France , she had been told by a man that he was gathering a troupe of dancing girls to perform in America . She jumped at the chance to see the United States and to be in the entertainment business. But after passing immigration, the man took them to Chicago and began selling the girls as prostitutes. Almost all of them accepted this fate because they had nothing else to do and nowhere to go. A Chinese woman said she came to the United States after answering an ad to become the mail-order bride of a “rich, white” man. When she arrived though, it was only to find herself on the doorstep of a house of prostitution (2).
The downside of choosing prostitution as a career was that women couldn't remain in the business for very long. Men valued youth, beauty, and health (referring to not having a sexually transmitted disease) – all of which diminish for women very quickly as they age.
Sounds great, huh? Yeah, it's not quite as glamorous as it's made out to be, but you'll be all right kid. Hey, look over there – say, he's really checking you out. Go on. Go on, girl! He wants YOU and by the looks of that suit, he's gonna pay real well for it too. Fine, you don't want this job? Then you can get out. Go back to the factory or that new department store that just opened downtown.