CDA 2.0

Question 1

why was prostitution rife in the 19th century?

Answer 1

• most w/c women received little/no education
• were limited to temporary and poorly paid jobs
• prostitution was the only alternative tot he work house

-soldiers could not marry or be gay

Question 2

what did the middle classes think about prostitution?

Answer 2

• moral threat to society

- threatened the sanctity of the family unit

Question 3

In what was was prostitution deemed acceptable?

Answer 3

• ‘necessary evil’ to satisfy the male sexual desire that their wives couldn’t necessarily
• especially acceptable in military bases and ports, where they were far from their wives, or didn’t have any

Question 4

What example could be used to claim that double standards were rife in 19th century Britain?

Answer 4

Matrimonial causes act 1857

–> man could divorce woman on grounds of adultery but she could not do the same

Question 5

Why is the Crimean war relevant?

Answer 5

(1854-56)

• A royal commission on the health of the army was introduced as a result of the war
• the royal commission then set up a committee of inquiry (after identifying VD to be an issue)

Question 6

what did the statistical department reveal about the health of the army?

Answer 6

-in 1860, 37% of army hospital diseases were for venereal diseases

Question 7

when was the committee of inquiry founded?

Answer 7

1862
included Florence Nightingale…
… and Sir John Liddell

Question 8

What did Florence Nightingale and other liberals advocate for the 1862 committee?

Answer 8

• for the army to end its reliance on prostitution (introduce leisure activities instead)
• penalties for men who concealed that they had VD

Question 9

What did Sir John Liddell advocate for the 1862 committee?

Answer 9

-the government should regulate prostitutes for soldiers with frequent checks i.e. compulsory medical examinations

Question 10

what was introduced for the first time in 1858?

Answer 10

• a lock hospital in portsmouth (a hospital with a ward specialist in VD where prostitutes could visit voluntarily for treatment)

Question 11

Who was sir William Acton?

Answer 11

• surgeon with medical knowledge on VD
• wrote a book called ‘prostitution’, stating that gov intervention and new medical technology could help VD, wanting prostitutes to be medically examined but for THEIR BENEFIT

Question 12

what were the details of the 1964 CDA?

Answer 12

• implemented in garrison towns and ports

- allowed Police to arrest women on suspicion of them being prostitutes and forcibly examine them

Question 13

How did the 1966 act extend the CDA?

Answer 13

-women could be detained for up to 3 months in a lock hospital

Question 14

why was the act passed by parliament?

Answer 14

• ignorance of MPs

- a similar sounding bill had just been passed (Contagious diseases bill) to control foot and mouth disease in cattle

Question 15

how could the first CDA be said to have made the spread of VD worse?

Answer 15

• some women would just move further afield in unregulated areas to avoid being arrested
• -> spread disease further

Question 16

what changed to the terms of the CDA in 1966 and 1969?

Answer 16

• more military towns had coverage
• women could be kept for up to year
• fortnightly inspections of all known prostitutes were compulsory

Question 17

what stimulated the start to the repeal campaign?

Answer 17

• plans to extend the system of regulation to the towns and cities of the north
• the repeal campaign began during the reformist period (same time as 1867 reform act)

Question 18

What was established in 1869 as part of the repeal movement?

Answer 18

• National Assoscation for the repeal of the CDA
• had no real impact
• LNA founded in same year, and had a much larger imoact

Question 19

Who was responsible for starting the campaign for the repeal of the CDA?

Answer 19

• Elizabeth Wolstenholme
• arguably too radical e.g. views on marriage
• would’ve tarnished the movement

Question 20

Why was Butler better suited to lead the movement?

Answer 20

• woman of undoubted morality e.g. a devout christian
• sought to help those with greater grief than her own, after the death of her daughter
• reformist family who had campaigned against slavery

Question 21

What was the first move of the LNA?

Answer 21

-Daily News published a protest against the acts signed by 124 women

Question 22

What did Josephine Butler do which shows her dedication to the campaign?

Answer 22

-traveled 3,700 miles and addressed 99 meetings in a year

Question 23

How did the LNA campaign for repeal?

Answer 23

• wanted to put pressure on the liberals by interfering with elections of anti-repeal candidates
• -> weakened the liberal party by accident e.g. By-election in colchester, conservative candidate got seat instead
• -> in 1874 the Tories won an overall majority

Question 24

name a criticism levelled at Butler’s leadership?

Answer 24

-an 1881 committee revealed that she had not been to a protected area since 1873

Question 25

How did the LNA use cases such as Ms Percy’s

Answer 25

1875 - falsely accused and committed suicide

-to fuel public fear. The CDA risked the dignity of innocent women

Question 26

what happened in 1874?

Answer 26

-Liberals lost power and James Stansfeld could assume leadership of the movement (no longer part of cabinet)

Question 27

What did Stansfeld do?

Answer 27

• used medical statistics to prove that the acts failed to stop the spread of disease
• encouraged the National Medical association to form in 1875
• got conservatives to agree to establish a committee of inquiry in 1879

Question 28

what was the LNA paper called?

Answer 28

The shield

Question 29

name a regional league that campaigned against the CDA

Answer 29

Northern counties league (Henry Wilson)

Question 30

How many petitions were signed 1870-1886?

Answer 30

18,000

Question 31

How did the government investigate the effect of the CDA?

Answer 31

the 1871 royal commission

• -> majority of witnesses were Anglican ministers, doctors and military officers
• -> prostitutes were not sufficiently respectable for the gov to interview

Question 32

what did the 1871 commission find?

Answer 32

• certificates to disease free women allowed them to charge more
• life expectancy had increased among prostitutes
• Arguably, the most uncomfortable disease, scabies, had been cured
• VD related hospital admissions in the army fell

Question 33

What was the difference in health between soldiers in protected areas and those in not?

Answer 33

protected areas: 37/1000 hospitalized

unprotected: 194/1000

Question 34

what was the shortcoming of the acts regarding the police?

Answer 34

-some police were unenthusiastic about implementing the acts, as they saw them as an unnecessary distraction from preventing and detecting more serious crimes

Question 35

what were the negative impacts of the acts on prostitutes?

Answer 35

• procedure likened to ‘surgical rape’
• Mercury was toxic
• acts appeared to place the blame on the prostitutes
• laws made access to reform institutions harder for those who wanted to leave

Question 36

what was the positive impact of the CDA on women?

Answer 36

• helped give women a political platform
• changed attitudes towards women in politics
• -> Social purity alliance set up by Butler increased age of consent to 16

Question 37

In what way could Butler have prevented important reforms to the welfare of prostitutes?

Answer 37

-opposed to a suggestion of the 1871 commission of a system of voluntary examinations in private clinics (said it would still pace blame on women)

Question 38

How did Butler view prostitution?

Answer 38

Morally abhorrent

Question 39

In what way did the LNA fail to get popular support?

Answer 39

failed to mobile w/c women

Question 40

When were the CDA’s repealed?

Answer 40

1886 (by the liberals)

Question 41

What led to Gladstone’s decision to repeal the acts?

Answer 41

Stansfeld demanded he repeal the act in exchange for support for Irish Home Rule