The Contagious Diseases Acts

The Contagious Diseases Acts were a series of laws passed in 1864 in England that attempted to curtail the spread of STDs on army bases. While people around the base cited an increase in venereal diseases and blamed said rise on prostitution, there were other factors at play as well. Poor living conditions, crowded barracks, and poor sanitation all help to contribute to the spread of disease. Prostitutes, however, were viewed as a blight on Victorian England and the idea of a fallen woman juxtaposed itself uncomfortably against the innocent and idealistic domestic one.

The acts themselves did little to prevent to spread of disease for a few reasons. First, the acts did little to sanitize barracks or improve living conditions. Instead, it was used to crackdown on prostitution and institute draconian policies that would eventually spark significant political backlash. Sex workers were arrested and monitored across 18 different districts and testing for STDs became mandatory. Those accused to prostitution were forced to strip naked in front of police and tested for a variety of diseases. If they tested positive, they were thrown into ‘lock hospitals’ in an effort to protect these women from infecting other men (the words of Victorians at the time, not mine.) Second, the acts didn’t actually focus on disease prevention. Instead, mass incarceration became the norm as even basic monitoring of the disease became nonexistent. The number of prostitutes were increasing, but by how much and at what rate was anybody’s guess.

In both THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS COMMISSION published in The Standard in 1871 and THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS published in Birmingham Daily Post in 1870, we see that the issue was squarely placed on women. The Standard published 11 responses from people interviewed around town and many felt that it was necessary to protect the ‘decent public’ from disease. One of the people interviewed believed it would actually encourage prostitution: “Women hear from each other that they will be well treated in hospital and get a good living by prostitution.” The Birmingham Daily Post reports on the actual passage of the act and draws attention to a statement made by Rev AW Heritage of Canterbury. Heritage had just pushed to sign the bill into law and argued in defense of the bill: “He denied that it ever was the intention of the Acts to restrain prostitution.” He went on to argue that it was the goal of the acts to make it safer.

The reality of these acts couldn’t be farther than any truth found in either report. The laws did little more than lock women away in specially made prisons that were ill equipped to even treat women for the disease they were being arrested for. Disease continued to spread on both military bases and in Victorian society more generally and the acts didn’t even do much to stem the tide of prostitution either.