June's salon - The double standard of sexual morality
This month's salon focuses on the Contagious Diseases Act of 1864. This law stated that women found to be infected could be interned in locked hospitals for up to three months, a period gradually extended to one year with the 1869 Act. Any questionable women could be could be forced to surrender herself to inspection, preying on those in the lower classes of society. Our discussion will focus on how women stood up to this affront to their bodies and the role of Josephine Butler (April 1828 – December 1906) a Victorian era British feminist, especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes.