Regulating sexuality by Leanne McCormick

Author:Leanne McCormick [McCormick, Leanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Ireland, Social Science, Women's Studies, Social History
ISBN: 9781847796998
Google: 3WS5DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2013-07-19T03:35:23+00:00

Churches and VD

The association of religion with VD legislation and the importance of the Churches in determining attitudes was more important in Ireland, both North and South, than in other parts of the United Kingdom. In the Irish Free State, the Catholic Church had great influence on the state’s attitude and actions towards VD and the regulation of sexuality.108 Its influence in the 1920s and 1930s ‘moral purity campaigns’ and in the legislation concerning VD has been highlighted.109

Whilst the situation in the North was not so rigidly dominated by the Churches, their influence was still very strong and the Stormont government was at pains to uphold the moral values of the Churches, and VD often seen as a moral rather than a medical issue.110 As the MSOH for Belfast explained in 1929, concerning VD:

The Public Health Department is at one with the theologians. People should keep a grip of themselves. Unfortunately some depart from the tenets of society. We must help our unfortunate brethren - as much for the sake of the innocent as for the guilty … our mission is to prevent and heal. With this earnest ambition your City Health Department stands four square in the knowledge that ‘God is in his Heaven and all’s well with the world.’111

It was to the Churches that the authorities turned to over the issue of education about VD.112 Religious language and imagery were often used to discuss public health issues and this reflects not only the conflict between medical and moral instruction but also explains the reluctance of authorities in Northern Ireland to develop an extensive propaganda programme.

Publicity only began to be treated as an important issue during the Second World War.113 This was in response to the war emergency and the greater governmental concern in London that VD should be controlled, particularly for the sake of troops. Demands from London ensured that the Stormont government pressurised local authorities into establishing treatment centres and provided increased funding for propaganda. Adverts were placed in newspapers detailing the opening times of the VD clinics and giving the ‘facts’ about VD and its transmission. In addition, the Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health approved the displaying of notices on hoardings or suitable walls.114

The advertisements in the newspapers apparently generated both interest and inquiries. A letter to the Ministry of Health in Whitehall from its Stormont counterpart declared:

we have had a large number of inquiries both by letter and telephone and when speaking to a doctor at the Venereal Disease Clinic of the Royal Victoria Hospital he told me that the number of people coming for advice and treatment had increased appreciably.115

Not everyone was convinced of the success of the advertising campaign. A letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs criticised the expense of the campaign and suggested that all that was needed was ‘a utilitarian ad – a few lines explaining what VD is and then a list where confidential advice can be received’. The letter goes on to suggest that the

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