I'm wondering if more likely to be of limited intelligence with a sequence of short term relationships - though using the newspaper search for a few obvious terms brings up some interesting cuttings in the 1890's that your suggestion might well be more common than allowed for by press reports (recall that one editor had a major financial interest in the dance hall business)- at least one madam got a term in prison - being a prostitute was not of itself illegal tho certain activities were.