The initial purpose of these three acts was to limit the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among the British armed forces. The first Act (1864) allowed the police to arrest prostitutes in towns which had military garrisons or naval dockyards and require them to submit to medical inspection. Diseased women could be imprisoned or hospitalised for three months. The Act was extended and revised in 1866 and 1869, but proposals to extend the measures to the entire country were stiffly resisted, notably by women who observed that they did not address the male carriers of disease and were symptomatic of the sexual double standard. Josephine Butler and Millicent Fawcett were particularly prominent in the debates which led to the repeal of the acts in 1886.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Contagious Diseases Acts". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 December 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5482, accessed 19 April 2024.]
