“Girls barely budding open their legs to make a living, alongside the toothless and rancid of breath; hair thick with lice, they all find customers if the price is right, against the wall or on sheets well-soiled. Their holes cost but a shilling. Skins grow thick and claws sharp.” WomenPovertyDirtCityProstitutionVictorian Age Book:The Gentlemen's Club Source: The Gentlemen's Club
“The cook says, ‘As a young lass, I thought nothing as important as the love of a brave and ‘andsome man; now I’m an old crone, I know full well that it is, but only when he’s moneyed enough to keep you. The young may think they can live on sweet embraces but they won’t fill your belly – or not as you may be intending at any rate!” LoveDesireMoneyPovertyDisappointmentVictorian Age Book:The Gentlemen's Club Source: The Gentlemen's Club
“she feels still that grasp upon her ankle as if it were a circlet of iron: the embodiment of matrimony. She would be pinned, like the museum butterflies. He would remain free to flutter.” WomenFreedomMatrimonyImprisonmentVictorian Age Book:The Gentlemen's Club Source: The Gentlemen's Club
“She first peered into its fascinating cases of beetles and butterflies at the age of six, in the company of her father. She recalls her pity at each occupant pinned for display. It was no great leap to draw the same conclusion of ladies: similarly bound and trussed, pinned and contained, with the objective of being admired, in all their gaudy beauty.” ScienceWomenFashionInsectsEmancipationButterfliesCorsetsVictorian AgeEntomology Book:The Gentlemen's Club Source: The Gentlemen's Club
“She is still forming her conclusions but, above all, is convinced that their actions are borne of instinct: fixed patterns that take them to their source of food, to their safe havens, to their mates, and, ultimately, to their death, since their predators learn these patterns as surely as if they, too, had read Maud’s book.” ScienceWomenInstinctBehaviourInsectsHabitsPreyAnimal KingdomVictorian AgePredators Book:The Gentlemen's Club Source: The Gentlemen's Club