While prostitutes were sometimes seen as 'wicked women', by the late 19th century they were also considered to be 'soiled doves' whose downfall was often the outcome of male lust and the moral disapproval of other family members. This 1889 cartoon by William Blomfield charts the 'seven ages of a lost sister'. The victim of seduction and the mother of an illegitimate child, she migrates from work in a luxurious brothel to soliciting on the streets. Her dead body is discovered by a policeman. Blomfield's cartoon illustrates the concern about the 'social evil' of sex work in late-19th-century New Zealand.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
H-713-095
Cartoon by William Blomfield
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Tāpiritia te tākupu hou