# Question about turn of the centry prostitutes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 11, 2001, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752 "2001-11-11T11:11:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/1 "2001-11-11T11:11:00Z")
Heard a story in the bar last night: 100 years ago it was common for prostitutes to have their front teeth removed to provide smoother oral sex. I figured this for an urban legend. What the straight dope?
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/2 "2001-11-11T13:10:19Z")
Considering the average penis is wider than the gap made by removal of the front teeth, wouldn’t this result in a rougher experience?
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### Author:  [@jaybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaybee)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/3 "2001-11-11T13:36:57Z")
Not if she suckels it like a calf sucking on its mothers tit! You youngsters just think that the head has to bob up and down to create friction. So try a toothless old pro tonight and expand your knowledge base.
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/4 "2001-11-11T13:44:43Z")
A blatant attempt at drumming up business I see!
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### Author:  [@jaybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaybee)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/5 "2001-11-11T13:56:23Z")
I am not a pimp! (In Richard Nixon type voice)
Just interested in expanding peoples horizons. By the way, why do they call it a blow job. It confuses some not so bright youngsters. Had one girl attempt to inflate the damn thing.
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/6 "2001-11-11T14:13:18Z")
Maybe it looked a bit withered and shrunken to her.Ÿ
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/7 "2001-11-11T14:21:53Z")
Oh yeah? Well I heard that some prostitutes would intentionally half-blind themselves so that they could keep an eye out for new customers.
😃
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/8 "2001-11-11T14:38:20Z")
A girl back then might resort to anything just to get something warm into her belly.h
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/9 "2001-11-11T15:44:44Z")
I was talking to a historian quite a few years back and she said that she had found historical references stating that as far back as the middle ages prostitutes with no front teeth were said to be better at oral sex and added that the prostitutes would advertise the fact.
She showed me an article in a French (ironic eh?) history journal that discussed a wall drawing believed used by a prostitute as something a billboard. The article said that the drawing made a point of showing that the front teeth of the woman were missing which clearly made her better at her speciality.
I realize that this does not address whether she (or they) knocked them out on purpose, but it is somewhat related.
TV
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/10 "2001-11-11T15:46:58Z")
It’s the same today though.
I can’t wait to marry a granny.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/11 "2001-11-11T17:06:58Z")
They probably didn’t have to knock them out just to get business.
Dental hygiene and diet were much worse back then. The only solution for a toothache was to have the tooth pulled. And it was fairly common knowledge that a woman would lose one tooth for every pregnancy.
And I suspect that having teeth was still considered desirable - making a lack of front teeth more of a hindrance in that biz. My WAG is that these people were trying to put a positive spin on something that would hurt their business otherwise.
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/12 "2001-11-11T17:35:15Z")
I’ll take **Turn of the Century Prostitutes** for $200, Alex.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/13 "2001-11-11T17:43:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Zyada \*
> **They probably didn’t have to knock them out just to get business.**
Considering the abuse some prostitutes get somebody proably did it for them. Back then, smacking around a hooker wasn’t as big a deal.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/14 "2001-11-11T18:59:29Z")
Well, _cough_ if I may steer this thread back onto the pathway of Right Thinking and Google Research, and away from the pathway of Wrong Thinking and Discussions of Oral Sex…
Dave, I’m WAGing that what you’re talking about might be simply a variation on some kind of racist joke, possibly stemming from the World War II years, when the Japanese were commonly portrayed as having enormous buck teeth. Therefore, a joke could be concocted that “a Japanese prostitute could remove her two front teeth and have room to accommodate a man’s penis”. Take out the word “Japanese”, as with many retellings in bars over the years, and you’ve got your joke.
Samples of artwork in question. Scroll down about a third of the way.
[http://www.bctv.net/telcom/usjapanprop.html](http://www.bctv.net/telcom/usjapanprop.html)
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/15 "2001-11-11T19:18:28Z")
While this doesn’t answer the OP, it is possibly useful to the discussion:
> [@](#):
>
> Among the Malays who live in the Cape in South Africa, it is a sign of female beauty to have the four upper and lower front teeth missing. This is because it facilitates fellatio, the chief form of contraception in the community.
From [here](http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,494310,00.html).
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/16 "2001-11-12T02:22:50Z")
Er, Sam, I’m sorry to have to do this to ya, but I’m gonna have to say that that’s probably an Urban Legend. I can’t find it anywhere else.
Your snip is from an op-ed piece about an X-rated movie released in Britain, and the anecdote about the Malays using fellatio for contraception, and the women having their teeth pulled to facilitate this, is obviously meant to bolster the author’s point that oral sex is moving into the mainstream of culture.
> [@](#):
>
> By letting _Intimacy_ pass uncut, Britain’s censors are signalling the crumbling of important taboos against public visual representation of erect penises and oral sex.
I also can’t find this confirmed anywhere else, from the article.
> [@](#):
>
> …the British Museum’s decision to chip off all the penises on Greek statues in its possession, to save the blushes of its Victorian visitors. (This act of egregious vandalism is remediable; the penises lie in a drawer at the museum and can be restored.)
So, I think Grayling was just making a point, quoting a couple of Web factoids, not facts.
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### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/17 "2001-11-12T03:46:47Z")
Actually from what I understand, oral sex wasn’t very common in North America (or even GB) until after WW2.
Something about the GIs bringing a little something home from the French girls…
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/18 "2001-11-12T03:59:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Zyada \*
> \*\*They probably didn’t have to knock them out just to get business.
>
> Dental hygiene and diet were much worse back then. The only solution for a toothache was to have the tooth pulled. And it was fairly common knowledge that a woman would lose one tooth for every pregnancy.
>
> And I suspect that having teeth was still considered desirable - making a lack of front teeth more of a hindrance in that biz. My WAG is that these people were trying to put a positive spin on something that would hurt their business otherwise. \*\*
Especially if she were a prostitute. I doubt very much she’d be able to afford any health care or even toothpaste or whatever.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/19 "2001-11-12T04:06:11Z")
Er, **DDG** you say
> [@](#):
>
> So, I think Grayling was just making a point, quoting a couple of Web factoids, not facts.
after you just said
> [@](#):
>
> I can’t find it anywhere else…and …I also can’t find this confirmed anywhere else,
Now, if you can’t find it anywhere on the Web, then how did he/she quote “Web factoids?”
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-turn-of-the-centry-prostitutes/92752/20 "2001-11-12T05:25:58Z")
Can’t answer the OP, but as long as we’re on the subject, I heard that Rosanna Arquette supposedly once attributed her over-bite to sucking her thumb as a child and preforming fellatio as an adult.
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