CDA Flashcards
1
Q
Why did people initially support the acts?
A
- The way that Florence Nightingale’s actions in the Crimea, the Factory Acts, Municipal Corporations Act and the 1848 Public Health Act had all improved the quality of life for groups of people.
- There was a belief that moral improvement could be achieved through the application of scientific principles.
2
Q
What was the Liberal solution to the spread of venereal diseases in the Parliamentary Committee 1862?
A
- Improved hospital care for diseased men and women.
- Penalties for men who hid evidence of being diseased.
- Better barrack sanitations.
- More leisure activities to entertain military men and prevent them seeking prostitutes.
3
Q
What was the Conservative solution to the spread of venereal diseases in the Parliamentary Committee 1862?
A
- Greater regulation of prostitutes, using the military model from British colonies like Hong Kong and India, where prostitutes near military bases were registered.
- Compulsory medical examination of prostitutes by British army doctors.
4
Q
What was the Contagious Diseases Act 1864?
A
- Allowed police to arrest any woman suspected of being a prostitute in a few selected naval ports and army towns.
- The women would be subjected to compulsory medical checks. If infected, they would be confined in a lock hospital for up to three months.
- It covered 11 military stations - garrisons and seaport towns - including the land around them for five miles.
5
Q
What were the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866 and 1869?
A
- The 1864 CDA was extended in 1866 and made a periodical medical examination of all prostitutes in the 11 areas compulsory.
- In 1869 the law was extended to cover 18 districts and the distance included around each station was increased to 15 miles.
- Also the time a woman could spend in a lock hospital was increased to nine months.
- The laws were enforced by plain-clothed Met police and the medical examinations were usually carried out by army or navy surgeons.
6
Q
How did the acts affect prostitutes?
A
- The authorities misunderstood the socio-economic issues of urban working class women.
-Identifying prostitutes was difficult as the majority for the majority of women, prostitution was an occasional means of making money. - In garrison towns, women over 20 made up 60% of the population due to the number of men. This left more unsupported women who resorted to prostitution.
7
Q
How did the acts affect ordinary women?
A
- Because prostitution was so widespread, police were forced to assume that ordinary women in working class areas were prostitutes.
- Many innocent women had been stopped, Mrs Percy, a pro singer was falsely accused of prostitution. The damage to her reputation led her to kill herself in 1875.
- Since many working class women were illiterate and had no idea of their legal rights, they had little means of standing up to this.
8
Q
What happened to women under the CDAs?
A
- If women refused to be examined they would be taken before a magistrate and charged. They had to prove their innocence. Could lead to a fine or prison sentence.
- If they were found clean of disease, they would be given a card to verify to customers - updated fortnightly.
- Those that had disease were imprisoned in a lock hospital for up to nine months. Often treated severely, seen as fallen women who had left moral decency.
- A common treatment was mercury, known now to be toxic, which caused loss of teeth, kidney failure and, in some cases, fatal poisoning. Relieved symptoms but not cure.
9
Q
Why did people oppose the Contagious Diseases Acts?
A
- Only focused on women.
- It did not work. The Army Medical Report of 1880 showed that the number of cases had increased from 1879.
- It was vague - no definition of prostitute, many WC women were stopped and forced to be examined.
- It broke habeas corpus from the Magna Carta.
- The law did not have the burden of proving that they were prostitutes. Women had to prove their innocence by proving they were not with men who were not their husband.
10
Q
What evidence is their of support for the CDAs?
A
- When the National Association for Repeal of the CDA presented a petition with the signatures of 50 physicians and surgeons who opposed the acts, their opponents presented one with 1,000 signatures of doctors.
- The Times initially gave more space to articles presenting a case for retaining the laws. Was later more balanced.
- Support was small but strong and influential. Between 1870 and 1881, they only presented 45 petitions compared to 10,315. 28 of these came from areas covered by the laws.
- These supporters were effective at dragging out the debate for 16 years.
11
Q
What was the National Association for the Repeal of the CDA?
A
- Formed in 1869.
- Included businessmen, lawyers, clergymen and MPs.
- It was a MC, male movement. Initially did not allow women.
- Proposed by members who were Wesleyans and Quakers. Initially, they focused on preventing the acts in the north but later extended to oppose the law entirely.
- Published a journal called The Shield.
12
Q
What was the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts?
A
- Formed a few weeks after the National Association.
- Led by Josephine Butler. Felt that women should be involved in the movement.
- The ‘Women’s Manifesto’ was published in 1869 in the Daily News. It was signed by 128 influential women and declared that the law had been passed without the knowledge of most the country.
- It complained that they put women, whether innocent or guilty, under the power of police. Daily News had circulation of 150,000.
- A copy of the statement was presented to parliament with 2,000 signatures.
- Campaigned until the acts were repealed in 1886.
- Drew a lot of attention, since they were women.
13
Q
What was the role of Josephine Butler?
A
- A forceful, persuasive speaker who provided leadership to a movement that was addressing a taboo subject.
- Published The Constitution Violated in 1871 which argued the laws broke the British constitution.
- Having a female leader who spoke in public about sexual health shook social expectations.
- To the Royal Commission 1870 - “Let your laws be put in force, but let them be for male as well as female”
14
Q
What was the role of Elizabeth Wolstenholme?
A
- Founding member of the Ladies’ National Association.
- Claimed to have personally communicated with 10,000 people and distributed 500,000 leaflets. Her work can be connected to 90,000 signatures on petitions.
- However, she gave her attention to other female issues. She was the founding member of the Kensington Society, an early female group which discussed parliamentary reform.
- She also brought some scandal to the movement when she fell in love and became pregnant with a man she was not married to. Discredited the movement.
15
Q
What evidence is there of support inside of Parliament?
A
- William Fowler and later James Stansfield, both Liberal MPs, spoke in favour of ending the laws, primarily because they essentially legalised prostitution.
- Fowler complained that the laws were unconstitutional for arresting women based on suspicion rather than evidence.
- However, support within Parliament was small.
