State regulation of vice : address / by Mrs. Butler.

  • Butler, Josephine Elizabeth Grey, 1828-1906.
Date:
[1876?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: State regulation of vice : address / by Mrs. Butler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    STATE REGULATION OF VICE ADDRESS BY MRS BITIES. At the Annual Meeting of'the Ladies' National Association for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution, held at Hull, October 19th, 1876, the following Resolution was moved and seconded: That this meeting regards the Government Superintendence and Regulation of Vice as embodied in the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866-9, as in the highest degree immoral, and calculated to degrade the character and life of both men and women: the meeting also protests against the Acts as a gross infringement of the liberty of women, and a serious danger to their honour and virtue. Having i-egard to the great importance of promoting an equal standard of morality in both sexes, this meeting moreover earnestly calls upon women of every section of society to insist upon purity of life in men, as well as women, as a neces- sary condition of personal friendship and esteem. Mrs Butler supported the Resolution, and, though the hour was late, and the darkness of evening had fallen upon the immense concourse of women assembled, no one left, and the attention continued to be intense until she had concluded an address of considerable length. Mrs Butler evidently felt that, in spite of all the earnest addresses made that after- vnoon, it was probable that many of those present did not yet clearly un- derstand the true nature of this evil thing, this unjust legislation, which we are banded together to destroy. She, therefore, explained the nature and purpose of the Acts, or rather explained the whole system of State regulation throughout the world in its broad and hideous lines. An audi- ble sign or shudder passed through the whole meeting from time to time; the subject had taken hold of all ijresent; the situation was realized, the danger to our country, and the necessity to be up and doing; and the geuse of pity for the wronged, and indignation against the wrong, were touchiugly and audibly expressed. Mrs Butler said, it has struck me as the meeting went on, that after' all, there may be many here who haye not a very clear idea of what these laws are which we are fighting against. Now I will try to explain to you, very simply and veiy briefly, what it is we are fighting against, and 1 am prepared to prove by all the experience and all the knowledge gained m the last seven years in this work, that what I say is the absolute truth You all know, friends, what is the meaning of the aAvful word prosti- tution. You know that prostitution is, perhaps, of all evils that have scourged humanity, the greatest and the darkest. Oh ! what woes what yrongs, what sorrows, what agonies, what diseases, what suicides' mur- ders, assassinations, deaths, are wrapped up in the one ten-ible word prostit.ution,~prostitution, the scourge of humanity, the typical crime Qf the universe from the beginning till now. Now, in these latter days men have grown wise, according to the world, but not.in the « wisdom'