Prostitution: Brussels and Europe
Strictly speaking, the bordell is a licensed or recognized house of prostitution, the proprietor of which is entitled to carry on the business for which the establishment is set up.
—Abraham Flexner, “Prostitution in Europe” 1919
Mrs. Warren’s Profession is set in England, but Mrs. Warren herself and her business are both based on the continent, where the laws surrounding prostitution and brothels are much more permissive. Her establishments, which would be illegal in London, are entirely legal abroad in Vienna, Budapest, and Ostend, though with varying restrictions on their operations. The same holds true for Brussels, where her empire got its start.
In the Belgian cities of Brussels and Ostend, prostitutes had to register with the government, including their demographic information and names. The names, however, were on a detachable portion of the form so that, should a woman leave the profession, her identity could be erased from the records without losing her demographics. Brothels were also sanctioned by the government, though married women were not allowed to open brothels without their husband’s consent. Laws and regulations governed where brothels were permitted to exist, whether the establishment could sell liquor, and made certain that a prostitute’s belongings were inventoried so that they were returned to her upon leaving. A study of registrations showed that more than 50% of prostitutes in Brussels turned to the trade for the same reasons Mrs. Warren did: low wages and degrading work in other fields.
Brussels brothels had to pay a fee to remain legal, ranging anywhere from 37 to 150 Belgian francs a month based on the class of house and number of employees. However, thanks to favorable currency conversion rates, that meant the highest the monthly rate in British pounds would be just £6, or about $600 today.
For anti-prostitution Victorians in Britain, Brussels became a particular stand-in for the evils of the trade. Exaggerated reports of British girls being kidnapped to stock the Brussels brothels fascinated and horrified the newspaper-buying public. Shaw’s use of the city as a home-base for Mrs. Warren would probably have roused immediate suspicion in his audience about the particular nature of her profession.
Belgium wasn’t alone in legalizing the trade, however. Vienna, like Brussels, allowed brothels. Their regulations were strict; women could not seek patrons on the street, and houses were not allowed to play music or have a common area for the selling of alcohol. There were no required fees for operating a brothel here, however; they were merely authorized.
Of the cities Mrs. Warren operates in, Budapest’s regulations were most favorable for the prostitute working at a brothel. There were protections in place for limiting her exploitation and securing her personal freedoms. The law explicitly stated that at least 25% of a prostitute’s earnings must remain with her, and that a madam cannot involve the prostitute in debt disputes. She must be allowed to walk alone in the city for at least three hours a day, and cannot be kept from going to church.
Mrs. Warren’s brothels are not localized to a single city or even country, and this is by design. Chains of upscale brothels certainly existed in the 19th and early 20th century, which allowed both for an increase of income and the ability to rotate employees from one house to another to answer the demand for new faces or to account for particular preferences from their patrons. Mrs. Warren, then, is simply excelling in a well-established, state-sanctioned trade in her European profession.
To read about the business of prostitution in London, take a look at Part 1 of this series.
Join us at Lantern Theater Company for Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The show has been extended through October 16, 2016; visit our website for tickets and information.
