Venereal Disease, Public Health and Social Control : the scottish experience in comparative perspective

During the first half of the twentieth century, VD became in many countries a metaphor for the forces of phisical and moral pollution that appeared to threaten social order and racial progress. By reference to some central aspects of the Scottish experience in a comparative perspective, this article seeks to identify the common denominator of anxieties and assumptions which fuelled public health initiatives towards VD and which defined the boundaries within which VD policy options were discussed. In particular, it will explore various dimensions of social control associated with the treatrnent and regulation of VD; the degree to which VD controls and procedures have targetted and stigmatised "sexually active" women, their use to regulate the sexual behaviour of the young, and the way in which discourses shaping medical practice and policy towards VD have enshrined both class and racial stereotyping. The article also examines the powerful moral agenda which shaped the categories and content of treatment and the focus of epidemiology and public health debate. Finally, the institutional and cultural factors shaping the distinctively compulsionist stance of Scottish public health administration towards VD will be explored as a means of identifying some of the possible comparators needed for broader comparative analysis of VD policy in the twentieth century

Venereal Disease, Public Health and Social Control: The Scottish Experience in a Comparative Perspective

During the first half of the twentieth century, VD became in many countries a metaphor for the forces of phisical and moral pollution that appeared to threaten social order and racial progress. By reference to some central aspects of the Scottish experience in a comparative perspective, this article seeks to identify the common denominator of anxieties and assumptions which fuelled public health initiatives towards VD and which defined the boundaries within which VD policy options were discussed. In particular, it will explore various dimensions of social control associated with the treatrnent and regulation of VD; the degree to which VD controls and procedures have targetted and stigmatised <<sexuallya ctive* women, their use to regulate the sexual behaviour of the young, and the way in which discourses shaping medical practice and policy towards VD have enshrined both class and racial stereotyping. The article also examines the powerful moral agenda which shaped the categories and content of treatment and the focus of epidemiology and public health debate. Finally, the institutional and cultural factors shaping the distinctively compulsionist stance of Scottish public health administration towards VD will be explored as a means of identifying some of the possible comparators needed for broader comparative analysis of VD policy in the twentieth century.Wellcome Trus

A manual of social hygiene for the teenage student

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Public Health Rep

13970254PMCnul

PATIENT-PRISONERS: VENEREAL DISEASE CONTROL AND THE POLICING OF FEMALE SEXUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1890-1945

Sexual politics were central in the United States’ venereal disease control movement in the early decades of the twentieth century. This dissertation analyzes the evolution of the venereal disease control movement from the Progressive Era reformers focus on creating a single standard of morality to the Public Health Service’s (PHS) concern over maternal and economic health during the Great Depression. I examine the intersections of public health, gender, sexuality, and citizenship through reactions and policies addressing venereal disease. In particular, the United States’ entry into World War I heightened fears of moral and health crises, as military physicals uncovered a presumably high number of military recruits to have syphilis or gonorrhea. Military officers, public health officials, and social reformers viewed their infections as indicative of the moral failings of women. From this perspective, public health policies that criminalized and stigmatized women — mostly poor and working-class — emerged. Beginning under the 1918 Chamberlain-Kahn Act, law enforcement officers, military officials, and public health workers had the authority to arrest women on mere suspicion of venereal disease and detain them for unspecified lengths of time under the guise of “treatment.” Women arrested under public health laws often found themselves labeled as sexual deviants because of the way in which venereal disease infections were inextricably tied to questions of morality. Deemed threats to the public and moral health of society, they were excluded from society and denied equal protection under the law. As such, I interrogate the role of public health in building a surveillance state that served to police morality and make female citizenship contingent upon white middle-class notions of “virtuous” sexuality, respectability, and motherhood

Empowering women in human immunodeficiency virus prevention.

Women comprise one-half of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus in the world, and about 70% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Advancing, untreated HIV disease in women has resulted in substantial declines in fertility rates, life expectancy and infant mortality rates, and an increased burden of tuberculosis. Three decades into the pandemic, our knowledge of HIV acquisition in women remains sparse, as are options of what women can use to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV. Here, we describe the role of pre-HIV responses to venereal diseases and then discuss unwanted pregnancies, early perceptions of the HIV epidemic in setting prevention priorities, and the history of microbicide development. Opportunities to reduce HIV risk in women through sexual reproductive health services are highlighted. Women are key to turning the tide of the HIV pandemic. Microbicides provide an opportunity to ensure survival of women while addressing the power disparities that underpin women’s vulnerability to HIV.This article belongs to a special issue: Microbicides in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Edited By Jagidesa Moodley

From social hygiene to social health: Indiana and the United States adolescent sex education movement, 1907-1975

IndianapolisThis thesis examines the evolution of the adolescent sex education during from 1907 to 1975, from the perspective of Indiana and highlights the contingencies, continuities, and discontinuities across place and time. This period represents the establishment of the defining characteristics of sex education in Indiana as locally controlled and school-based, as well as the Social Health Association’s transformation from one of a number of local social hygiene organizations to the nation’s only school based social health agency. Indiana was not a local exception to the American sex education movement, but SHA was exceptional for SHA its organizational longevity, adaptation, innovation in school-based curriculum, and national leadership in sex education. Indiana sex education leadership seems, at first glance, incongruous due to Indiana’s conservative politics. SHA’s efforts to adapt the message, curriculum, and operation in Indiana’s conservative climate helped it endure and take leadership role on a national stage. By 1975, sex education came to be defined as school based, locally controlled and based on the medicalization of health, yet this growing national consensus belied deep internal contradictions where sex education was not part of the regular school health curriculum and outside of the schools’ control. Underlying this story is fundamental difference between social hygiene and health, that hygiene is a set of practices to prevent disease, while health is an internal state to promote wellness

What Lies Beneath: Uncovering the Health of Milwaukee\u27s People, 1880-1929

The true measure of a city\u27s health is the health of its people. To truly understand how Milwaukee came to be known as the healthiest city in 1930, one must examine the health needs of common Milwaukeeans from 1880 to 1929. This study seeks to complement Judith Leavitt\u27s pioneering work on public health in Milwaukee by presenting a picture, not of the politics of health reform, but of the personal side of health in the city. Through an extensive examination of records including, but not limited to, coroner\u27s reports, hospital records, personal correspondence, newspapers, cemetery data, and institutional records, a picture of the overall health of the city\u27s population emerges. These records speak of the urban environment and its effects on everyday people. Communicable diseases, tragic accidents, suicides, physical examinations, venereal diseases, housing problems, and occupational hazards are only a portion of the health story that Milwaukee created at the turn of the last century. While political and institutional histories are essential, the story told here focuses on the people of Milwaukee and their experiences. While the city would dramatically grow and change during the twentieth century, its people remained its most valuable asset. As a city initially defined by German, polish, and Italian immigrants, today Milwaukee has significant Hispanic and Hmong communities. The immigrant groups have changed but the challenges of living in the urban environment remain the same. The health of the city as a whole, as well as of its everyday citizens, is a strong indicator of its general economic, social, and physical health. Sick citizens create a sick city, both on a biologic level and an economic level. By bettering their individual health, the health of the overall city improves. The lessons and challenges that Milwaukeeans faced in the early twentieth century provide insight and models for Milwaukeeans of the twenty-first century. While breweries will make Milwaukee famous, it is her citizenry that makes the city prosper