Contagious Diseases Acts
The Contagious Diseases Acts (CD Acts[1]) were originally passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 85),[2] with alterations and additions made in 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 35) and 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 96). In 1862, a committee had been established to inquire into venereal disease (i.e. sexually transmitted infections) in the armed forces. On the committee's recommendation the first Contagious Diseases Act was passed. The legislation allowed police officers to arrest women suspected of being prostitutes in certain ports and army towns. Since there was no set definition of prostitution within the Act, the question was left to the police officer’s discretion, and women could be arrested even if there was no actual evidence of prostitution.[3] The women were then subjected to compulsory physical examinations for venereal disease. If a woman was declared to be infected, she would be confined in what was known as a lock hospital until she recovered or her sentence was completed. Men suspected of frequenting prostitutes were not subjected to the same treatment of compulsory checks and confinement. The law was initially aimed at working-class women in towns near military bases, due to the concern that sexually transmitted infections were hampering Britain’s forces. The original act only applied to a few selected naval ports and army towns, but by 1869 the acts had been extended to cover eighteen "subjected districts".[4]
Not to be confused with Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act.Long title
An Act for the Prevention of Contagious Diseases at certain Naval and Military Stations.
27 & 28 Vict. c. 85
29 July 1864
1886
An Act for the better Prevention of Contagious Diseases at certain Naval and Military Stations.
29 & 30 Vict. c. 35
11 June 1866
1886
An Act to amend The Contagious Diseases Act, 1866.
32 & 33 Vict. c. 96
11 August 1869
1886
Because military men were often unmarried and homosexuality was criminalized, prostitution was considered by military authorities to be a necessary evil, so long as the spread of venereal disease could be contained. The Act of 1864 stated that women found to be infected could be interned in lock hospitals for up to three months, a period extended to one year with the 1869 Act. These measures were justified by medical and military officials as the most effective means to shield men from venereal disease. However, no provision was made for the physical examination of prostitutes' male clientele, which became one of the many points of contention in a campaign to repeal the Acts.
After 1866, proposals were introduced to extend the acts to the north of England and to the civilian population. It was suggested that this extension would serve to regulate prostitution and stop street disorders caused by it in large cities.
The subject of venereal disease, known at the time as "social disease", created significant controversy within Victorian society. The Contagious Diseases Acts themselves affected the lives of thousands of prostitutes and working-class women. They sparked the debate over inequality between men and women, and were an early political issue that led to women organising themselves and actively campaigning for their rights.
The inconsistent treatment of genders inherent in the acts was a key part of Josephine Butler's campaigns for their repeal. In one of her public letters, she allowed a prostitute to deliver her own account of her personal encounters with men:
Conditions in lock hospitals[edit]
If a woman was declared to be infected she would be confined in what were known as lock hospitals. The lock hospitals or lock wards were designed specifically to treat those infected with a venereal disease since 1746.[15] Conditions in lock hospitals were sometimes inadequate. An 1882 survey estimated that there were only 402 beds for female patients in all the voluntary lock hospitals in Great Britain, and out of this number only 232 were "funded for use".[16] Female venereal patients generally had to resort to workhouse infirmaries if there was no availability within a lock hospital.
Depending on the city, there may have been a lock asylum operating in partnership with the lock hospital. Women would receive treatment in the asylum, which was intended to correct their moral deviance. Women were seen as deviant if they were prostitutes, and the goal was to cure them of their sexual desires. The increased expectation of Victorian “respectability” made the asylum treatment much more popular among the general population. In a lock asylum, women were “taught appropriate behavior through religious instruction, and a decent working-class profession, so that a process of inclusion in respectable society would be fulfilled after a process of exclusion.”[17] For men, their sexual desires were seen as natural impulses that could not and should not be controlled, so they were not subject to the same asylum treatment.
Opposition and extension[edit]
Early opposition[edit]
Florence Nightingale’s opposition to the “Continental system” or state regulation of prostitution probably delayed passage of the legislation by a couple of years. However, the first Contagious Diseases Act was adopted, after scarcely any debate in 1864.[18]
In 1862, Nightingale prepared a thorough critique of the regulatory approach in Note on the Supposed Protection Afforded against Venereal Diseases, by recognizing Prostitution and Putting it under Police Regulation.[19] The paper included statistics of hospital admissions for venereal disease for various army units at various stations. It showed that the system of regulation did not result in lower rates of disease. Nevertheless, the legislation proceeded.
Nightingale next recruited journalist Harriet Martineau to write on the subject and provided her with background material. She published The Contagious Diseases Acts, as applied to Garrison Towns and Naval Stations, in 1870. The four articles in the series, printed in the Daily News, and credited to “an Englishwoman” ran on each of the last three days of 1869 and the first day of 1870, the last of which launched “The Ladies’ National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.” It was co-signed by 124 leading women opponents of the Acts. Josephine Butler, who went on to lead the lengthy campaign for repeal, was the third signatory, after Nightingale and Martineau.
When the first woman to qualify as a doctor in England, Elizabeth Garrett, wrote in favour of the Acts, Nightingale, using the name “Justina,” opposed her, with two articles, in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1870.[20][21] Nightingale continued to give support behind-the-scenes to the repeal campaign.
Extension[edit]
In 1867, the Association for Promoting the Extension of the Contagious Diseases Acts was established and was just as prominent in publishing pamphlets and articles as the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts was. The Association strongly campaigned for the extension of the Contagious Diseases Acts outside of the naval and army towns and for them to be made applicable to the whole of the country, as they believed this was the best way of regulating prostitution. In 1869, the Act was extended across the whole country.
Repeal[edit]
After years of protesting, the men and women of the National Association and the Ladies National Association gradually won the battle over the Contagious Diseases Acts, and, in 1886, the Acts were finally repealed. In the years that followed, doctors and researchers discovered that voluntary submission to be treated for sexually transmitted diseases was much more effective than the original compulsion that came with the Acts.[3]
Archives[edit]
Extensive archives on the campaign to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts are held at the Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics.