DoRA regulation 40D, the 'Prohibition on sexual intercourse by diseased women' and which made it an offence to infect a soldier with venereal disease.
A policeman, on information from a soldier, could arrest a woman and take her to the police station, where she would be required to undergo an examination. If infected she would be sent to court and on conviction be fined up to £100 or be given up to six months' imprisonment.
Between its introduction on 22 May 1918 and its repeal on 26 November 1918, 203 women, married and single, had been prosecuted under the regulation, and 101 were convicted.
There was widespread outcry against this degrading and humiliating treatment of women, and it remains one of the more shocking aspects of the Defence of the Realm regulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment