“She Did What?”
Venereal Diseases and the Contagious Diseases Act of the Victorian Age
The Contagious Diseases Act was developed in 1864, with some reforms in 1886 and 1888, and was brought about to influence the state government to intervene in how contagious diseases are dealt with and handled. Under the Contagious Diseases Act, a contagious disease is defined as a venereal disease, or sexually transmitted infection. These diseases include STD’s such as Gonorrhea, HIV, AIDS, Syphilis, and many other contagious diseases. The condition in which one of these diseases lived was thought to always be a women’s body, therefore, leading to the hospitalization of many women, who were considered prostitutes for having a contagious disease.
Under the Contagious Diseases Act, subjects infected with a disease must be kept in a certified hospital to receive medical attention. The patient is only allowed to leave the certified hospital when the Chief Medical Officer discharges her in his own writing. These precautions were taken by both medical and military officials to ensure the health of the military men in order to stay healthy and strong in order to fight for their country. The subject of the “social disease,” as known to the Victorian people caused uproar about public health and the equal treatment of men and women, sparking the political debate of inequality and activism.
Women of the Victorian age were often disregarded and would now be considered less valuable men, or unequal in status. Influenced by this thought were many writers who felt compelled to write novels which included the ideas of women’s rights regarding contagious diseases, and the different aspects that contagious diseases could be looked at.
The Contagious Diseases Act was a way of preventing venereal diseases from spreading. This act commonly targeted women, military men, and livestock. Throughout the Act, these diseases are thought to be contracted through prostitution. However, animals and military men were also found to have been infected with the diseases. These diseases affected the social scene greatly during the Victorian Age. The act of hospitalizing a woman because she is thought to be a prostitute greatly influenced culture, and the policies set forth “attempted to isolate, segregate and domesticate prostitutional activity, resulting in a spatial order with clear class and gender biases.” (Howell). This division between men and women can be seen in many novels and news articles from that time.
The media as a whole played a huge role in the public’s views of venereal diseases. The British Medical Journal focused greatly on tracking the types of diseases and how many cases were being found within the army and military. In particular, gonorrhea and syphilis were tracked and graphed regularly to prevent them from spreading. Often times the results from this journal were exploited by the media through newspapers. The British Medical Journal’s main focus was to find the trends in contagious diseases, and progress towards more solutions that would eventually treat and prevent those diseases in the future. They were finding that it was nearly “impossible for anyone examining the curve that represents either syphilis or gonorrhea to fix upon the period of time in, which a new agent came into operation, and showed itself of marked sanitary value by its effect upon the future progress of disease,” (Figure 1).
As research had shown, as scientists developed treatment options for these diseases, they were having a hard time keeping up with the new contagious diseases that were starting to spread. The fright of catching one of these diseases was inflated by the media, but also by many novels of that time.
Newspapers provided the public with in-depth real-life events and warnings of these diseases. Literature however, allowed writers and readers alike to discover scenarios, to recount stories of people during that time with a contagious disease. Elizabeth Gaskell, for example, is one author who wrote about disease. In her novel Ruth, Ruth is looked at as a prostitute because of her desire for Mr. Bellingham, and because she was so young when she had her son. By the end of the novel, Mr. Bellingham falls sick but recovers, while Ruth ends up dying from the sickness that Bellingham had. The role of prostitutes in novels from this time frightened the public and set up realistic scenes of what could happen to them.
In 1862, in England, a committee was assembled to try to combat the issue of venereal disease in the armed forces. This committee was supposed to assess the situation of prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases while specifically focussing on cities and towns with naval docks and army bases. The debate over the Contagious Diseases Act didn’t end after the Act was passed in 1864, the conversation and controversy started well before 1862 and continued far beyond 1869. This Act was so controversial that it was talked about in the media every day and was adjusted officially two other times.
The principal participants in bringing this Act to be passed were Parliament and officials of the armed forces. The officials expressed their concern, prompting the committee to be created and start investigating and trying to implement changes. One of the main participants in trying to abolish this Act was Josephine Butler. Butler was a wife and mother who grew up and was living in the upper middle class and a strong headed feminist and quickly “became obsessed with the needs of women who were completely unlike herself” (Boyd). After Butler heard about and immersed herself in everything having to do with the Contagious Diseases Act she became a caretaker for suspected prostitutes who were imprisoned and or ill and even allowed and invited some of the victims into her own home. Butler became so invested in giving women a voice in the matter that all of the time and effort she put into her campaigning caused her health to become physically and emotionally undermined. She would collapse and be confined to her bed for weeks but not even that could stop her from campaigning for all of the struggling women she was trying to help. Since the Contagious Diseases Act opened doors for women to be sexually assaulted by police surgeons, Butler informed the public of the brutality being forced on women, innocent or guilty, and led the group called Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act. Butler is recognized for leading the first women’s national organization to score such triumph in England and make such an impact. After the Act was changed she still wasn’t satisfied and carried on the rest of her life trying to help abused women.
The main position and goal for the government with the use of the Contagious Diseases Act was to “reduce the sexually transmitted diseases that plagued the British army and navy” (Mathers). Most of the main positions talked about in the Parliamentary Debates Legislative Council were focused on women and how they were “hurting society and cultural structure, making England weaker” (Mathers). The Contagious Diseases Acts did not include examination of men and gave the police the power to decide who was a prostitute with not a warrant or any probable cause needed. After taking in a prostitute the officers had the power to give brutal exams leading to misdiagnosis, miscarriage, and physical illness in the women. As economical status goes, since the Acts affected the working class primarily, backlash against these particular measures proved to show few results in the beginning or protest. It was documented and well known that those with the most political influence, men in the middle and upper class, were more interested in protecting “their boys in service” from unclean women than try to get involved in how poor women were being treated by the police and government. Legislators could agree that sexually transmitted diseases were a problem that was only growing in the community and in the armed forces. They could also agree that it caused even more divide in the working class and their views and opinions toward poor women. The final outcome for the Contagious Diseases Act in Parliament was to pass the Act and make prostitution illegal, especially near navy docks and army towns/cities and monitor women and the rate of sexually transmitted diseases.
The Contagious Diseases Act was put in place to protect the naval and army soldiers of England and the upper class men of the time. Some of the values we see in Victorian Law are reflected in Ruth, not in a law sense but more of an unwritten understanding. For example, in Ruth she is considered “the help” and has to move away and make a new life for herself because of a pregnancy and her desire for a man outside of her social and economic status of class. In the time that this Act was written, that is considered prostitution and she probably would have been discovered and taken to a lock hospital, as to not spread her “disease.”
Questions seem to arise in Ruth revolving around the definition of prostitution and how that was interpreted. Is it just a social dilemma or is it the government’s job to regulate this type of “work” to keep the naval and army bases and soldiers in a clean bill of health? By trying to interpret prostitution by herself, Ruth knows she will be looked down upon socially and might not be able to work because of her illegitimate child, which she believes is considered prostitution.
Ruth specifically contributes a reflection of the cultural conversation surrounding contagious diseases and also exemplifies both an opposing point of view and a warning toward the way she carries and represents herself. Mr. Bradshaw embodies the opposing view, after he finds out of Ruth’s child and divorce, kicking her out and forbidding her to be around his children any longer. Mr. Benson embodies the warning toward the way Ruth carries herself and tries to help her make up an alias and allows her to stay with him while he and his wife find her some work to do.
Sources:
Bartley, Paula. Prostitution: Prevention & Reform in England, 1860–1914 (2000)
Birbeck, Nevins J. “Contagious Diseases Acts.” British Medical Journal, vols. S4–1, no. 1, 3 Jan. 1857, pp. 430–31.
Boyd, Nancy. Three Victorian Women Who Changed Their World: Josephine Butler, Octavia Hill, Florence Nightingale. New York: Oxford UP, 1982. Print.
Mathers, Helen. Patron Saint of Prostitutes: Joesphine Butler and the Victorian Sex Scandal. The History Press, 08/15/2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.
THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS NEWS. (1871, Jul 11). The Manchester Guardian (1828–1900) Retrieved from https://une.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.une.idm.oclc.org/docview/474834946?accountid=12756
“The Contagious Diseases Act.” The Contagious Diseases Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
“The Contagious Diseases Act.” Www.victorianweb.org, 10 Jan. 2009, www.victorianweb.org/gender/contagious.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Walkowitz, Judith. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.