Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976
An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched.

Save the Womanhood is a fascinating new history about promiscuity, prostitution and the efforts of local social purists to 'save' working-class women from themselves. The book examines how the work of the Liverpool Vigilance Association was supplemented by others, such as the Women Police Patrols, the Liverpool House of Help and the local branch of the Catholic Women's League. It argues that though these organizations helped many lost and stranded women, their work also enacted a form of moral surveillance on the streets. As such, the book uncovers how important twentieth-century anxieties about changing sexual practices, female immigration, white slavery and the rise of new consumer cultures played out at local level and with what consequences for women in Liverpool. The book also brings together a wide range of local and national sources to show that when female-run, local organizations concerned about immorality went into decline in the post-war years, it was because official institutions and local law enforcement had increasingly taken up their cause. Consequently, Save the Womanhood argues that young, working-class women who travelled through Liverpool in search of work and adventure continued to arouse moral anxiety even as the city's social purists battled to maintain their influence.
1128234804
Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976
An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched.

Save the Womanhood is a fascinating new history about promiscuity, prostitution and the efforts of local social purists to 'save' working-class women from themselves. The book examines how the work of the Liverpool Vigilance Association was supplemented by others, such as the Women Police Patrols, the Liverpool House of Help and the local branch of the Catholic Women's League. It argues that though these organizations helped many lost and stranded women, their work also enacted a form of moral surveillance on the streets. As such, the book uncovers how important twentieth-century anxieties about changing sexual practices, female immigration, white slavery and the rise of new consumer cultures played out at local level and with what consequences for women in Liverpool. The book also brings together a wide range of local and national sources to show that when female-run, local organizations concerned about immorality went into decline in the post-war years, it was because official institutions and local law enforcement had increasingly taken up their cause. Consequently, Save the Womanhood argues that young, working-class women who travelled through Liverpool in search of work and adventure continued to arouse moral anxiety even as the city's social purists battled to maintain their influence.
49.45 In Stock
Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976

Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976

by Samantha Caslin
Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976

Save the Womanhood!: Vice, Urban Immorality and Social Control in Liverpool, c. 1900-1976

by Samantha Caslin

Paperback

$49.45 
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Overview

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched.

Save the Womanhood is a fascinating new history about promiscuity, prostitution and the efforts of local social purists to 'save' working-class women from themselves. The book examines how the work of the Liverpool Vigilance Association was supplemented by others, such as the Women Police Patrols, the Liverpool House of Help and the local branch of the Catholic Women's League. It argues that though these organizations helped many lost and stranded women, their work also enacted a form of moral surveillance on the streets. As such, the book uncovers how important twentieth-century anxieties about changing sexual practices, female immigration, white slavery and the rise of new consumer cultures played out at local level and with what consequences for women in Liverpool. The book also brings together a wide range of local and national sources to show that when female-run, local organizations concerned about immorality went into decline in the post-war years, it was because official institutions and local law enforcement had increasingly taken up their cause. Consequently, Save the Womanhood argues that young, working-class women who travelled through Liverpool in search of work and adventure continued to arouse moral anxiety even as the city's social purists battled to maintain their influence.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781800857162
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Publication date: 10/01/2021
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Samantha Caslin is a Lecturer in History at the University of Liverpool.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vi

Acknowledgements vii

List of Abbreviations ix

Introduction 1

1 Experts in Womanhood: Morality and Social Order Before and During the First World War 14

2 Patrolling the Port: Interwar Moral Surveillance 41

3 Regulating Interwar Prostitution: National Debates and Local Issues 62

4 Finding Respectable Work for Women in Interwar Liverpool 85

5 White Slavery and Social Purists' Authority 106

6 Female 'Traffickers' and Urban Danger 125

7 Irish Girls in Liverpool (1): Interwar Moral Concerns 145

8 Irish Girls in Liverpool (2): The Second World War and the Post-War Years 162

9 A Changing of the Guard: Moral Order, Gender and Urban Space in the Post-War Years 183

Conclusion 210

Bibliography 217

Index 231

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