Life As A Wild West Saloon Girl: Dancing, Prostitution, And Danger

It was up to individual jurisdictions in the Old West to determine whether houses of ill repute were legal. According to some historians, the practice was widely accepted. Madams simply needed licenses to run their enterprises; the money from the licensing ensured the city profited. Other historians noted bordellos had to pay fines, usually about $8 a month, to local governments to stay in business. Many authority figures seemingly chose to overlook these establishments because they supported the local economy.

A common misconception exists that all saloon girls also turned tricks. In reality, many women who worked in saloons earned money from drink sales, not from sex. Drinks usually cost between 10 and 75 cents, and for each beverage sold, the saloon girls made a percentage of the profit. By marking up beverage costs, saloon owners could profit and pay their female employees. A saloon girl could earn around $10 per week, almost $200 today.

There was a good deal of social stratification in the Old West, even among women. Those considered proper ladies fit the social expectations of the time; they were wives, mothers, and daughters, and most relied on men for support. Saloon girls were looked down upon by women with more traditional roles, but that didn't seem to matter much to the men who sought their company. Saloon girls made up a small population of the Old West and were therefore sought after by men. Their low social status often even made male patrons feel comfortable around them. Moreover, saloon owners often required customers to treat the women nicely; mistreatment could result in being banned from the establishment, ostracized from the community, or even killed.

Saloon girls wore many different hats and were responsible for a large variety of things. Instead of exchanging sex for money, saloon and dance hall girls entertained men through other methods, usually singing, talking, and dancing. "Shady ladies" were the actual sex workers of the day, and they could work for madames or be independently employed. Women in brothels held a somewhat higher status in society and typically worked in businesses that didn't hide their true intentions. Shady ladies might also work alongside the saloon girls who didn't provide adult companionship.

Though many women took jobs in saloons to escape farm labor, they could still face danger. Violent deaths were a hazard of the job. Men sometimes became possessive over the women or demanded more than the saloon worker wanted to give. According to one story, a saloon girl was beaten by a customer and called a derogatory term. She told people she could take the physical assault, but the insult hurt. Many were eventually considered too old for the job and often had nowhere to turn; some died from suicide, sickness, or overdose.

There were a high number of euphemisms for the saloon girls who sold adult experiences. Some people called the women "ceiling experts," "soiled doves," or "horizontal employees." And because these women tended to wear eye-catching makeup, they might also be called "painted ladies." Saloon employees were also known as "ladies of the line" or "sporting women." These nicknames let people talk about the profession without really talking about it.

Though Victorian style - and thus the fashion of the Old West - was often ornate and complex, it was more demure than the trends of previous decades. Women in saloons hardly dressed prudish, though. Saloon girls were supposed to be flashy and entertaining, so their wardrobes reflected that. In spite of tradition, the ladies wore visible, colorful petticoats. Their bright skirts and shorter hemlines caught the eye. Their dresses stopped at the knee or shin, although floor-length skirts or skirts with trains were typically more appropriate. Saloon girls' outfits also included visible garters and stockings, which were customarily considered underclothes.

Saloon girls were expected to chat with, serve drinks to, and entertain the lonely men of the Wild West. Male patrons often tried to purchase drinks for the women who showed them attention, but saloon owners could hardly let their employees get drunk on the job. They didn't want to lose valuable sales, though, so bar owners sneakily replaced the drinks men ordered for saloon girls with tea or colored water that resembled liquor. Saloon girls could then drink with every customer without getting drunk, and continue making money from each sale.

Dance halls began to appear in the region starting in 1849, offering many of the same appeals as saloons. Dance halls had additional boons, though: dancing partners. Visitors could purchase a ticket for about a dollar; the tickets could be redeemed for dances with women employed by the business. The dancers made money from each ticket and earned a percentage of each drink they sold after the dance. Dancers who were especially sought-after might make a great deal of money - more than a man might make in a month - with some 50 dances per night.

The saloon girl occupation offered many women of the era a relatively comfortable existence, but it wasn't necessarily a lifelong career. And with no shortage of bachelors trying to strike it rich in the Old West, many saloon girls sought to increase their fortune by getting married to one of these men; and their closeness with patrons gave them plenty of opportunities. To prevent the women from potentially falling in love and leaving the saloon or dance hall, saloon owners might limit the amount of time a male patron could spend with any particular woman. This way, the individuals couldn't get to know one another well, and the women were less likely to leave.

Societal ideas about sexuality were rigid in the 19th century. Certain people believed adult intercourse was solely for procreation, so "shady ladies," or women who exchanged sex for money, might be seen as detrimental to society. Sex work was sometimes one of the few options for women in the era, though. If they were widowed, for instance, "shady ladies" could still keep their families afloat, charging anywhere from $1 to $50 for sexual experiences.

People might assume saloon girls worked under the noses of the local authorities. Sex work was a legitimate form of income in the Old West, though, and, many communities were unincorporated territories without proper governance. Some historians suggest about 25% of the population participated in sex work, usually in brothels or parlor houses. The parlor houses advertised their services with hanging red lanterns and often included game rooms or dancing for those anticipating service. Women in these establishments were protected by bouncers, whereas women on the streets had to fend for themselves. Sometimes, women who aged out of traditional desirability moved into small houses and continued to work for the madams who previously employed them.

Most settlers who moved to the West in the 1840s and '50s in pursuit of gold were men. Some women ventured west as mail-order brides, spouses, and daughters. But the men who moved west were typically unaccompanied bachelors. The gender demographics were utterly unbalanced; the male population outnumbered women by a ratio of three to one. In 1850, about 90% of the California settler population was male. The few women there could earn money by working in the saloons men frequented.