VI. NORTH STREET (SEX WORK)

North Street was notorious for sex work, especially in Victorian York. The historian Frances Finnegan conducted archival research, examined newspaper reports, magistrate court proceedings, slum clearances and workhouse records to construct her study of the 1,400 prostitutes and brothel-keepers operating in Victorian York. Finnegan outlines several reasons for women entering into prostitution, due to issues of poverty and the constrained position of women within society. She also documented that the Races and Fairs held regularly in York not only attracted many visitors to the city but also prostitutes travelling from Leeds, Hull, Bradford, and even Nottingham. Prostitutes were construed as a danger to public health, in response to moral panics about sexually transmitted diseases. This led to the introduction of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869. Initially focusing on garrison towns and ports, their aim was to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The Acts allowed police and the medical profession to force women to undergo a medical inspection and, if found positive, they could be detained against their will in a Lock hospital for up to three months and treated with mercury leading to many women dying of mercury poisoning.