The necessary evil - The Women of the Health Inspection : A Study of the Lives of Prostituted Women in 1880s Gothenburg

The purpose of this study is to examine prostituted women in Gothenburg during the late 19th century. This aims to provide a deeper understanding of their lives before, during and after prostitution. The theoretical framework of this research is based on labelling theory and Erving Goffmans stigmatizations theory. These perspectives contribute to analyse whether the women were stigmatized and if this label follow them to the end of life or not. The Study shows that a handful of the women were socially disadvantaged and stigmatized, but the empirical evidence points that the label wasn’t definitive. The women who figured in the study got married, had children and established a life outside of prostitution. Furthermore, the research shows that several women were born in lower classes. A vast majority of the women’s fathers worked as craftsman and a small portion had fathers working as entrepreneurs. The prostituted women of the study had a median age of 49 years old. Some of them lived to be over eighty, while some deceased at the early age of twenty-one. Despite this, all the women died of natural causes and no connection between prostitution and health defects could be made. Finally, the study provides insight into how the historical source material can be used for educational purpose by teaching about industrialization, democratization, and gender patterns. As well as how these processes have changed over time.