[wyowolf]

Having been to India several times, and being married to one :), I find this story interesting. Life was so different back then...

“In regimental towns, the brothels were even licensed and the prostitutes inspected for sexually-transmitted diseases and compulsorily treated, as they were back home in Britain.

But the Contagious Diseases Act, which required the examination of any woman suspected of being a prostitute near a garrison, was repealed in India in 1888, after which rates of venereal disease soared, incapacitating almost half the British soldiery (only soldiers, not officers, were allowed to use brothels).”

LOL... well that worked well :)

[C19fan]

The Contagious Diseases Act exposed the tensions in Victorian society between the Benthamites/Utilitarians who would push this law as a practical response to a public health issue and the moralists who questioned why the state should help facilitate immoral acts and how the Act was much more severe with the prostitutes, including mandatory three months hospitalizations if a prostitute has a STD, than with the men who used their services.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

“In regimental towns, the brothels were even licensed and the prostitutes inspected for sexually-transmitted diseases and compulsorily treated, as they were back home in Britain.

Before the U.S. entered WW-II and the American Volunteer Group in China, the Flying Tigers, had a brothel that was staffed with disease free women from the India Volunteer Group. Once the U.S. entered the War and the AVG came under command of Vinegar Joe Stillwell, he promptly stopped the practice, and the number of man-days lost to STDs increased dramatically.