THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS AND THE MIDDLE CLASS CAMPAIGN AGAINST PROSTITUTION

“It is men, men, men, from the first to the last that we have to do with! To please a man I did wrong at first, then I was flung about from man to man, then men police lay hands on us-by men we are examined, handled and doctored and messed on with. … We are had up before Magistrates who are men and we never get out of the hands of men till we die!”
--A prostitute to Josephine Butler regarding the newly Contagious Diseases Acts.

Josephine Butler was a second cousin to Earl Gray, British Prime Minister from 1830-1834. After the loss of her 6-year-old daughter, she coped by rescuing prostitutes off the street. The implementation of the Contagious Diseases Acts, in 1864 and 1865, marked the beginning of the campaign against prostitution by middle-class women. The Contagious Diseases Acts were established as an attempt to abolish venereal disease. The Acts meant that any woman suspected of being a prostitute was forced to undergo a gynecological exam to check for venereal disease; this meant that any woman, even a middle class one, could at moment's notice, be forced to have a gynecological exam. As a result, the Contagious Diseases Acts brought even more attention to the issue of prostitution. It was only until middle class women could potentially mistaken as a prostitute that they campaigned to help these women.