The Contagious Diseases Act is passed by Parliament in 1864. It was an Act to wipe out venereal diseases from population, in army or navy towns. The government was tired to being down in man power because their men were getting sick from these women. Notice how it is the woman’s fault the man is sick even though it’s the man’s fault in the first place for indulging in prostitutes in the first place. We will be looking at 3 pamphlets of sorts to discuss how women responded to this act.
The three pamphlets were written by Mrs. W. T. Malleson, a woman called “Justina” and one anonymous author. One of my original questions was who are these last two people? But Alyssa answered who “Justina” was and that leaves only the anonymous as the unknown. These three people, I would assume women, are writing not only in response of the Act but also the response of a Miss Garrett. Who although we do not see her own writing is agree with the act saying that it is the Christian and morally right thing to do and I believe she even goes so far to say as it’s the woman’s’ fault for getting these diseases. And she holds only them accountable. These other authors are not agreeing with her in the slightest. They have their own ideas about the Act and what Garrett says. There are points were they are the same such as men should be brought into question as well and not only the woman. They all say that women don’t chose this lifestyle they are forced into it because they have been left by men and abused by them.
Malleson brings up the point that women need to be educated which was an idea that was spreading at this time for if women were educated then they would not need to rely on selling their bodies to have an income they could work a more respectable field. The Anonymous author agrees and believes that that if women had been better prepared for life they wouldn’t be in this situation and the diseases wouldn’t be at the level of escalation that they are in this time. Justina cuts straight to the point in believe that the entire Act is pointless and futile for women for the sake of their business and dignity are simply going to avoid registering. Which is something the other two agree with as well. The law is forced upon these women, who want no part in it and are just trying to survive.
Of course there is a lot more, but I don’t want to give everything away right now.
I guess my questions would be: who is this anonymous writer and what might their background be? What’s every other writers background as well including Miss Garrett, and Mr. Hill. And I would like to go further into the Contagious Diseases Act myself to have a further background on what they are discussing.
1 comment:
Just a thought--I think it would be interesting to look at what Miss Garrett, the woman whom these three women are responding to regarding the Contagious Diseases Act, wrote. Why did it catch the attentions of three different women? Is it possible that the three women are in fact, all one person? That the person who wrote the three responses were the same person who wrote the letter signed by Miss Garrett? I was reminded of one of the first readings we had done, in which the author included in her work letters written by herself but signed by a different name, so that she could respond to these claims in her work. What do you think? I, in accordance with you, find myself wanting to know who all the women involved are.
Post a Comment