Practical Methods of Prevention of Venereal/ Sexually Trasmitted Diseases in Men
Marriage cannot be made safe, of course, so long as men are permitted to contract venereal diseases, and spread them. Early marriage will greatly lessen the chances of this; tolerated houses under effective medical supervision (such as we had in Paris during the War)[I] would enormously lessen the chances of infection, even where marriage was delayed or interrupted; prophylactic depots where disinfection was properly applied, and efficiently taught on request, would be invaluable; but it is at present from self-disinfection, properly understood and efficiently applied, that the community can hope for the greatest and most immediate gain in sexual cleanliness.[J] The following were the directions I gave the Anzacs during the war, distributing these with prophylactics for men and for women (the directions for women being printed in French and English); this action was endorsed by all the leading British, American and French military and medical authorities, from the Commanders-in-Chief downwards, and the effort undoubtedly saved many thousands of men from damage and ruin:—
"AVOID INFECTION.
"If you become infected with V.D., the fault is really your own. Either do not risk infection at all, or, risking infection, take proper precautions. These are quite simple. If you take the following precautions without delay you are very very unlikely to contract disease:—
1. Use vaseline or some other grease (such as calomel ointment) beforehand, to prevent direct contact with the source of infection.*
(* Note: Any personal discomfort or unpleasantness grease causes is counteracted by the woman's having douched beforehand, as should always be done for the sake of cleanliness. A mere film of grease is sufficient to fill up pores of the skin, cover over abrasions, and prevent penetration of microbes, and it greatly facilitates subsequent cleansing.)
2. Urinate immediately after each connection to wash away all infective material, and to prevent the invasion of the urethra by the microbes of V.D.
3. Wash thoroughly with soap and water, because ordinary soap is destructive to germs—of syphilis and of gonorrhœa—and bathe parts with weak solution of pot. permang.
You had far better carry a blue-light outfit with you as a "town dressing," in the same way as you would carry a "field dressing." If you cannot get an outfit, carry a tiny bottle of pot. permang. lotion and a scrap of cotton wool. If you swob yourself carefully with this, you will not become diseased. Remember always it is delay that is dangerous. If there has been delay, use a syringe sufficiently large for the contents to flood the urethra and slightly distend it, so that every nook and cranny is cleansed.
Whatever you do, make certain of going home clean. Be sure of your health and doubly sure before you embark. While you are in the army and on this side of the world you can be cured easily and privately. If you go home infected, there will be embarrassment and expense to yourself and great danger to the women and children you love.
Get cured NOW." (Paris, April, 1919).[K]
It was clearly proved that so long as men took these simple precautions (which I always explained personally) they were very unlikely to contract disease; most cases of disease came from multiple connections with the women of the cafes, etc. It was difficult to impress on ordinary men's minds the fact that each and every connection was a danger; that the danger of infection began immediately there was any contact, and that it continued until disinfection, and was renewed as well with each fresh connection during the night. If the danger had continued for several hours in this way, the men were told to go to the medical depot or report to a doctor as soon as possible. When they did so they were saved from disease in the vast majority of cases, even up to twenty-four hours afterwards or a little longer.[L]
Nevertheless, the people who would put sacerdotalism before science, and the still meaner minds who would substitute legality for morality, raised storms of objection to my work, in the midst of which came a few strong, clear calls of understanding and encouragement.
One Scotch padre wrote me in 1918:—
"It is a magnificent adventure for a woman to go practically alone on the very edge of things, and I salute you, and congratulate you, and wish you God-speed."
An old family doctor, then with a colonial ambulance, wrote:—
"Many women ... will owe their health and happiness to you, and not a few will be indebted to you for their lives."
The editor of the Sydney Bulletin (Australia) was continually publishing helpful articles and paragraphs—after my letters and articles were censored;[M] and from Dr. W.H. Symes, of Christchurch, New Zealand, I heard by personal correspondence steadily and wisely all through the war. Much later came the following tribute, in a most valuable book written by Sir Archdall Reid and Sir Bryan Donkin ("Prevention of Venereal Disease," published by William Heinemann (Medical Books) Limited)[N]:—
"Sir Bryan Donkin's letter, which appeared in The Times, in January, 1917, and other communications which he published as opportunity offered, brought him an introduction from Sir J.W. Barrett, M.D., then serving as A.D.M.S. with the Australian Force in Egypt, to Miss Ettie Rout, who, by profession a journalist, had come with the Australian and New Zealand Forces with the object of ameliorating, as far as possible, the hardships of war. She had been horrified by the pestilence of venereal disease which broke out among the troops in Egypt, England, and elsewhere, and, with extraordinary resolution and courage, had embarked almost single-handed on a campaign of prevention. She furnished Sir Bryan, and later myself also, with much valuable information, and for her own part fought the battle most strenuously—living among the men, lecturing, finding and instructing lecturers, providing disinfectants, importuning authorities, writing most trenchant letters, establishing medical clubs in England and France, and the like. I think that when the names of those who opposed her are forgotten, the memory of this brave lady will still be green among the descendants of the valiant men for whose welfare she struggled"—p. 176-177.
ALCOHOLISM.
It should be noted here that another great difficulty we had was to make men beware of the dangers of drink. A man who is in liquor is much more liable to contract venereal disease than a man who is sober. Alcohol increases sexual desire, lessens sexual ability, and lowers the sense of responsibility. Hence, drunkenness, immorality and disease go hand in hand: a dreadful three. But more than this. The drunken man takes much longer over the sex-act, thereby prolonging the risk of disease, and he runs risks which he would rule out instantly if the fumes of alcohol had not changed the tawdry girl into the glittering fairy. Worse than all, he neglects to apply disinfection properly and promptly—he falls asleep or forgets all about it till too late. Men who are determined to have a "night out" should use calomel ointment (or some other substitute) before they start; and if they have been in liquor they should disinfect instantly when they recover their sober senses. Generally speaking, an ounce of calomel is worth a ton of salvarsan.
As with young men, so with young girls: a few glasses of wine taken at a supper or a dance—and the first downward step is taken, not because any wrong was intended, but the simple actualities of sex were unknown, and the stimulant took advantage of the ignorance that is miscalled innocence. This kind of thing will continue till the older generation realise that morality depends—not on the maintenance of ignorance and the fear of disease, but on the spread of knowledge and the promotion of virtue.
It is not morality, but caution, that is developed by fear, and in this case caution is counteracted by the practical experience that many men are immoral without becoming diseased. One man commits many immoral acts and suffers not at all; another man becomes syphilitic by yielding for the very first time; the penalty is purely fortuitous. There is no necessary connection at all between immorality and disease. The dangers of sexual intercourse are due to dirt and promiscuity rather than to immorality, and in part to the physical conformation of the individual. Virtue has far deeper and more substantial foundations than the mere gusts of fear. It is founded on necessary and responsible guardianship of the very gates of life.
