The New York Female Moral Reform Society (NYFMRS) was established in 1834 under the leadership of Lydia A. Finney, wife of revivalist

Charles Grandison Finney Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He has been called the "Father of Old Revivalism." Finney rejected much of trad ...

.Steven Mintz, Moralists and Modernizers: America’s Pre-Civil War Reformers, (Baltimore: JHU Press, 1995), 69 The NYFMRS was created for the fundamental purpose of preventing

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

in early 19th century New York. In time, the NYFMRS became one of the most well-known moral reform organizations of the period and even expanded its influence to other cities across America. Five years after its establishment, the NYFMRS already had 445 auxiliaries, and thus changed its name in 1839 to the American Female Moral Reform Society in the hopes that membership would expand even further. This name change came just a year after the Boston Female Moral Reform Society became the New England Female Moral Reform Society due to a growing rivalry for support among auxiliary societies in the Northeast.

Goals

Moral reform became a prominent issue in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

during the 1830s and 1840s and many organizations were created during this time to eliminate

and the sexual double standard, and to also encourage sexual

abstinence Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc. ...

. While some organizations tried to reclaim women who had fallen into prostitution, moral reform societies like NYFMRS were convinced that prevention was their primary concern. Women involved in the New York Female Benevolent Society, who tended to be older women, were more willing to help prostitutes out of their situation.

Prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

first became a problem in America between 1810 and 1820, primarily because it was not completely illegal, thus it is estimated that 5 to 10 percent of women were

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

. Women soon discovered that

paid more than any other kind of work available to them at the time, and even some kinds of employment were linked to

. A report by the NYFMRS in the 1830s found that

servants A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

chambermaids A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

, and

milliners Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

were the most common occupations linked with

. With estimates of more than ten thousand prostitutes in the city it can be understood that some women simply turned to

out of necessity from the strains of their economic and environmental situations.Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers 1815-1860 , (HarperCollins, 1997), 179-180.

Reform Strategies

The NYFMRS attempted many strategies in preventing

from occurring. Some of these strategies included entering

brothels A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub pa ...

and praying for the

and their clients, lobbying the state to make male solicitation of

a crime and threatening to publish names in their monthly journal of the men who regularly visited brothels. Through time the NYFMRS took on new missions, primarily by relaxing their focus on prevention and opening up to the idea of homes for the friendless, offering education to those women in need and opening up an employment agency to help some respectable women.

Notable people

* Lydia A. Finney * Margaret Prior

References

{{Prostitution in the United States, state=collapsed Organizations established in 1834 Women's organizations based in the United States Prostitution in New York (state) History of women in New York (state) Sexuality in New York (state) 19th century in New York City 1834 establishments in New York (state)

Goals

Reform Strategies

Notable people

See also

References