Sex and death

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I thought that would get your attention Jack the Ripper is coming to Docklands. To the Museum of Docklands, to be precise, with his very own exhibition. They tell me that:

Although no one knows who he was, Jack the Ripper is probably the capital’s most infamous son, his story passing into legend, shaping the way London and the East End are imagined. Full of objects attesting to the never-ending public appetite for this story, the exhibition will ask why the tale of the Whitechapel murders continues to resonate 120 years on and why this one unknown figure has become so iconic, and so much a part of London.

I’d really like to disapprove of that ‘never-ending public appetite’, but sadly I’m part of it. In my defence, there’s a lot to be said for difference in approach. The story of Jack the Ripper (and the story of the story) says so many fascinating things about gender, about local history, about stories and myths, about folk devils and urban nightmares. Plus a hefty dollop of ghoulish Victoriana (you know From Hell, right?) It’s right up my eerie, gaslit, fog-shrouded street

What I do try and resist, however, is the rock star angle. At the end of the day, whoever he was, he was just another pathetic scared little mysogynist, taking out his frustration on one of the most vulnerable groups of people he could find. Enough with the obsession and breathless admiration.

So I was really pleased to read a press release from Toynbee Hall’s fantastic Safe Exit project, who work on improving services for women involved in prostitution, saying that they had been involved in creating the new exhibition.

As their press release points out:

In 1888 impoverished women were frequently addicted to gin and sold sex to earn the 4 pence needed to pay for lodgings for the night. Today as many as 95% of women selling sex have a crack/heroine addiction, not unusually exceeding £100 a day, and often work to fund a boyfriend/partner’s drug habit as well.

I’m really glad that Safe Exit are involved, not just because it gives a feminist stamp of approval* to my day out at the museum, but also because it’s a great example of the museum’s work with local groups and community initiatives. Plus they have managed to join the dots between past and present in a powerful and immediate way, rather than the frequent “People in the past often had legs. Lift the flap to find out what we have today… Legs!” approach.

Expect a report back from the exhibition shortly. I’m off to invite some friends using this nifty idea on the MiD website.

* There is an actual stamp. We keep it at Feminist HQ.

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Filed under Docklands, Feminism, History, Museum

Tags: Docklands, east london, exhibition, Feminism, jack the ripper, murder, Museum, museum in docklands, prostitution, safe exit, toynbee hall