Thread by @WhoresofYore

The Rev. John R. McDowall (1801-36) aggressively campaigned against the sex trade in 1830s New York, but accidentally wound up creating a new genre of erotic literature.

A thread

McDowall published numerous salacious reports, such as ‘The Magdalen Report’ in 1830 and was deeply unpopular. He also published “Magdalen Facts” which was a collection of writings about his visits to the notorious ‘Five Points ‘ area of New York.

He once wrote that “A few of these courtesans suffice to corrupt whole cities, and there can be no doubt that some insinuating prostitutes have initiated more young men into these destructive ways, than the most abandoned rakes have debauched virgins during their whole lives”

Although McDowall’s work proporates to be a serious attempt at reform, many people noticed their salacious and voyeuristic quality.

His reports actually had the effect of creating a market for satirical guides to the cities’ sex trade, such as “Prostitution Exposed; or, A Moral Reform Directory” (1839), whose author called himself ‘Butt Ender’. This is the frontispiece.

The pamphlet offered a list of brothels, with descriptions of the women working there, and even mentioned where to find abortionists. Many other publications of this sort appeared in the aftermath of the Magdalen Report and include...

The Bachelor’s Guide, and Widow’s Manual; Containing Three Thousand One Hundred and Eighty-Six Names of Widow Ladies’, and House Keepers in the Cities of New York and Brooklyn (1842) George Thompson’s The G'hals of Boston; or, Pen & Pencil Sketches of Celebrated Courtezans (1850)

Fast Man’s Directory, and Lovers’ Guide to the Ladies of Fashion and Houses of Pleasure in New-York and other Large Cities (1853), The Young Man’s Guide to Pleasure in New York and All Other Cities (ca. 1855), and George Ellington’s Women of New York; or, The Underworld (1869).

Eventually, in 1834 the third Presbytery of New York, which licensed McDowall as a minister, warned him to stop publishing and suspended him from his ministry.

He died just a few years later. It is thought the complete failure of his campaign to halt the sex trade took a severe toll on his health and led to an early death.

You can read all about him and his campaign in this excellent article by Alexander Moudrov.

journals.openedition.org/ejas/12604