SEXUAL NORMS THROUGHOUT HISTORY: BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS.
WORLD WAR II AND CONDOMS
Between the World Wars
The events of war created a new openness about sexuality. American soldiers overseas became acquainted with the sexual norms of other cultures. As brothels in the United States were closed, men were more likely to establish sexual relationships with women who were not sex workers, especially unmarried women. Despite the increase in sexual activity during the 1920s, federal funding was cut for programs to fight sexually transmitted infections.
During the Great Depression, rates of infection increased because so few people could afford treatment. People with sexually transmitted infections were stigmatized. Hospitals refused to treat them. As a result, infections increased and the stigma against people with them became stronger.
In the 1930s, social hygienists came under fire. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Thomas Parran as U.S. Surgeon General in 1936. Parran was determined to deal with sexually transmitted infections as a health problem, not a moral dilemma. He had a five-point plan to control syphilis:
1. Identify women and men with syphilis.
2. Treat them.
3. Contact and screen their sex partners.
4. Mandate blood tests before marriage and early in pregnancy.
5. Educate the public about syphilis.
Parran rejected the moral stigmas that prevented the development of effective public health programs. In 1938, his National Venereal Disease Control Act was passed by Congress. It provided funding for treatment and prevention programs.
Moral stigma and the fear of syphilis—syphilophobia—undermined Parran’s program, however. Myths emerged that associated syphilis with certain ethnic groups and social classes. Twenty-six states prohibited marriage of infected people.
In 1932, the Public Health Service began a tragic experiment that would last for 40 years. This unethical experiment was known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Public health officials wanted to find out what would happen if syphilis went untreated. Four hundred African-American sharecroppers in Alabama were selected for this study. For 40 years, they believed they were receiving treatment for syphilis when they were not. About 100 men died as a result. It wasn’t until the public found out about the experiment in 1972 that it ended. The doctors who designed the study made the racist assumptions that all blacks were infected and that the subjects would not have sought treatment, anyway.
Although the condom was known to protect against sexually transmitted infections, the American Social Hygiene Association opposed its use, despite the commonsense arguments of the Birth Control Federation of America. Discovered in 1928, penicillin wasn’t found to be an effective treatment for syphilis or gonorrhea until the 1940s.
World War II and Condoms
As many as 50 million condoms were distributed to American soldiers each month during World War II. The army also provided fear-based sexuality education classes and medical prophylaxis. The law that docked the pay of infected soldiers was repealed.
Prostitution was suppressed once again, although a number of health officials saw “benefits” to prostitution. They suggested that prostitution reduced the incidence of rape and homosexuality. They advocated segregating prostitutes in areas near the bases and providing them with regular medical exams. Despite this advice, more than 700 cities and towns closed their red-light districts.
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