Tracing the Spread of Venereal
Combatting Venereal
Disease: Moral Panics
Regarding Sex and
Sexuality During the
Great War
1914. The Great War begins. Britain has
declared war on Germany, with the major
powers also entering the war. Australia
proud to fight in the name of the fatherland
and longing to add to their own narrative,
eagerly sign up to fight. The Great war offers
a multitude of opportunities in all countries for
new experiences and thus the spread of
sexually transmitted infections is common
because of the inconspicuous nature that
war expedited. This is the story of venereal
disease and the moral panics regarding sex
and sexuality in Australia during World War
One.
The Trumpet Calls, Date: circa 1918.
Image Source: Museum Victoria.
Disease
With the outbreak of the Great War, millions
of soldiers seeking new adventures and
sexual experiences enlisted to fight. The war
appealed to young men and it was during this
time that soldiers sexual promiscuity grew
and thus led to some 60,000 Australian
soldiers becoming infected with venereal
disease (V.D).i As a means of warning
troops, The Gundagai
Independent (Newspaper) published a
warning, urging troops to respect the
disease as it was prevalent throughout
Egypt during 1914 and 1919.ii Despite a
number of issues facing the Australian
Imperial Forces (AIF) such as combat
losses, shortage of weapons, parts and food,
V.D became increasingly widespread among
the troops and was seen as a source to
potentially weaken the fighting force, and
thus resulted in a loss of manpower. In the
first paragraph of The Gundagai
Independent, a well-known author declared;
The disease is already responsible for a loss in
the Australian Imperial Forces, since those who
are severely infected are no longer fit to serve.
While in Cairo, many Australian
soldiers contracted V.D in the Wazza, the
brothel district. Army medical officer James
Barrett estimated that on a daily basis
roughly one thousand men were afflicted
with the disease and a further 33 percent of
returning troops were said to be venereally
infected.iii While various attempts were made
to control the spread of the disease by
policing, prophylaxis, and punishment
disincentives, Australian military leaders
marched their troops through the Wazza in
an attempt to discourage soldiers by showing
them the women in which they had drunkenly
acquainted themselves with during the night.
As the Australian soldiers image and status
continued to grow back home, and a new
enemy within appeared, working class
women and prostitutes became the logical
scapegoat.iv This new attitude made for an
explosive anxiety back home on Australian
soil. Sex was the issue and it was perceived
as a great threat to Australias survival. The
spotlight was on women with racial purity and
the future of the race a major concern. In this
context, women threatened both the health
and morals of soldiers and more concerning
the war effort. As stated by the commander
of the Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps, Major-General Birdwood, it is as
necessary to keep a "clean Australia" as a
"White Australia.v In this sense, cleanliness
and whiteness were not seen as separate
but rather interconnected with the security of
the nation dependent on this notion.
The circumstances surrounding the spread
of sexually transmitted diseases summoned
the General commanding the Australian
forces who called upon soldiers to realize on
him rests the reputation of the Australian
forces and urged at all costs and hazards to
avoid risk of contracting venereal disease or
disgrace himself.
The Gundagui Independent warns soldiers
that men have been discharged from service
after acquiring sexually transmitted
diseases. Page 8 on Thursday, 9 September
1915. Source: National Library of Australia.
Venereal disease had been in the public
spotlight before the outbreak of the war in
1914. However, it was the social stresses of
war that aggravated the existing concerns
about V.D and thus prompted significant
concern about the health of the nations fit
classes. By this time, it was widely accepted
that V.D had become rife in Australia. This
was partly related to the perceived increase
in its incidence, alongside the belief that it
was becoming more prevalent in populations
traditionally unaffected. The mainstream
media added to mounting concern reporting
that V.D had swept the nation and was
spreading into populations 'hitherto
unaffected'.vi Of course, public concern grew
as V.D was supposedly spreading from
degenerate populations into 'fit respectable
classes. This wartime epidemic was largely
a project of classification linking a person
from one class intimately with another. In
other words, V.D was a project of
classification: who got V.D and who gave it
to whom. Often the social stigma associated
with the disease itself was seen as a way to
determine an individuals public identity as
respectable or degenerate. What emerged
during the war was an emphasis on the
differences between classes of sufferers.
The perceived collapse of the borders that
separated fit and degenerate classes were
depicted in cartoons designed to warn
people of the dangers of V.D. This however,
may have helped reinforce the existence of
these 'classes' and their associated stigma.

Like some vile octopus, venereal disease
with its tentacles spreads and seizes its prey.
Illustrated above, the octopus takes in
human lives with the soldier, maiden, youth
and mother taken victim. Page 5, 8 July
1916. Source: Truth (Melbourne
Newspaper).
The Campaign Against Venereal
Disease
As discussions about V.D were
significantly high during the war, extreme
measures of constraint were enforced
against white working class women and
soldiers. The moral panics and associated
sexual anxieties were in part to disloyalties
from soldiers and diseased women. Patriotic
Journals devoted pages to this new social
evil in which sexually transmitted diseases,
as opposed to bullets and bayonets cut down
the unwary soldier.vii Consequently,
government and military energy focused on
a need to control women and protect an
impressionable soldier. Understandably, the
campaign against venereal disease was
intensified by the war with concern in many
ways part of the more general concern for the
health and size of both the white race and the
new nation.viii This symbolized the way in
which the public perceived the threat, with
fear growing not in terms of individual
suffering but in regards to a deteriorating
eugenically sound nation. In many ways, the
campaign against venereal disease was one
of many programs aimed at cleaning up and
improving the white race.
While venereal disease served as an
important symbol of moral corruption, the
campaign against the disease increased
discussions about sex and sexual behavior.
This was often led by moral crusaders -
typically clergymen and people who
educated the public on issues regarded as
too unsavory to warrant free discussions.
During this time, clergymen often raised
question about the disease tracing its spread
to the drink and thus dedicated their time to
prohibiting the sale of alcohol. Of course, it
was well established during this time that
soldiers often drank in excess, and it was
prohibitionists that purported the link
between drunkenness and venereal
diseases in soldiers. Understandably this
generated a considerable amount of public
discussion about the extent of venereal
disease in the AIF. The public however was
often ill informed with estimates for the rising
rates of V.D based on invented statistics
presented to provoke public outrage and
illicit a response. Reverend S. D. Yarrington,
a leader of the Temperance Committee of
the Presbyterian Assembly of Victoria,
delivered an address, indicating the drink
as the culture of the Red Plague, stating,
the great Red Plague is a devastating
influence which the drink is any degree
responsible for.ix Yarrington claimed some
4000 men had been sent back to Australia
every year, and the drink was mainly
responsible for that. He demanded the
government prohibit the sale and
consumption of alcohol and deal with the
question of social purity and the prevalence
and cure of venereal disease. In this sense,
the consumption of alcohol was generally
considered the principal cause for the spread
of the disease with it hindering Australias
war effort.x
Picture: Soldat, La Patrie Compte Sur Toi,
1916
French artists led the way in creating posters
against venereal disease. This poster
illustrates a man and women embracing
each other, followed by the physically
debilitated soldier on his hospital bed. The
message reads: "Soldier, the country counts
on you-keep healthy. Resist the temptation
of the street where a sickness as dangerous
as the war awaits you It carries its victims
to decay and death, without honor, without
happiness. . ."
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Controlling Venereal Disease
By the end of 1915, venereal disease was
one of the most serious threats facing
Australian soldiers. Up until then, treatment
was somewhat undeveloped with medical
staff often inadequate, the methods and
equipment limited and the conditions
shockingly bad. Of course, while it was an
offence to conceal any disease, soldiers
were often very reluctant to go to regimental
doctors for treatment, and instead chose
quacks and civilians. As one doctor
explained, they knew they had disgraced
themselves.xi
While many soldiers became infected with
venereal disease, it was viewed as an
escape from the unbearable conditions of
war with treatment resulting in a substantial
amount of time away from the fighting. Of
course, this had a severe impact on the
fighting forces and attempts were made to
control the spread of the disease. In an
address given on the Red Plague, Dr.
Bottomley called to diminish venereal
disease by educating young men, criticizing
alcohol, promoting teetotalism, and reducing
the hours for the sale of liquor.xii This was
generally considered a necessary measure
with legislative restrictions enacted to
prevent the spread of the disease.
However, this was not the case, with it
proving to be a drain on the military. As
stated by General Smith-Dorrien, unless
checked, venereal disease may seriously
interfere with the progress of the war.
As better treatments prevailed and more
thorough diagnostic methods were set in
place, there was still a very real stigma
related to the disease, with its immortality
and inherent nastiness prevailing. There
was an overwhelming push to medicalize,
rather than moralize venereal disease, as
medical professionals honestly thought they
could cure the disease. However, when
asked to speak from the moral standpoint Dr.
Rentoul argued it was impossible to separate
the moral from the physiological standpoint.
According to Rentoul, they were interwoven
and there was only one way of really
combating the evil, and that was by
continence.xiii
Bacillus bulgaricus A bottle of bacterial
culture which was used as a vaccine against
venereal disease.
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine.
The Australian Worker newspaper offers a
series of proposals to deal with venereal
disease.
Page 6 on Thursday, 26 February 1914.
Source: National Library of Australia.
In summary, the moral panics
regarding venereal disease were
exacerbated by the very unusual conditions
of war. The social stresses aggravated by the
war rendered discussions about sex and
sexuality. Soldiers promiscuity as well as the
supposed spread of venereal disease from
degenerate populations into 'fit respectable
classes brought the issue further into the
public spotlight, generating a moral panic
never quite seen before in Australia.
Newspaper articles published in The
Gundagui Independent, The Northern Miner,
The Workers Trade Union Print, and The
Woman Voter have provided evidence to
support the notion of a moral panic revolving
around the disloyalties from soldiers through
contracting sexually transmitted diseases
while abroad. In many ways, the newspapers
supported, shaped and reinforced public
attitudes and understandings of the moral
panic regarding sexuality. These moral
panics were also reinforced by moral
crusaders who voiced their concerns about
the disease as a means to prohibit the sale
of alcohol and potentially reduce the spread
of the disease. The research has shown that
these were some of the most prominent ways
that war generated moral panics regarding
sexuality on the Homefront.
 Bibliography

Primary Sources

The Gundagui Independent (New South Wales), Venereal Diseases, Warning to Troops, 9
September 1915, p.8.
The Northern Miner (Queensland), THE RED PLAGUE AND THE DRINK, 20 August, 1915, p.
3.
The Workers Trade Union Print (Sydney), The Red Plague, 5 August, 1915, p.4.
The Woman Voter (Melbourne), Venereal Disease, 13 January 1915, p.3.

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Allen, Judith. A., Sex & secrets: Crimes involving Australian women since 1880 (Melbourne:
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324.

Dunbar, Ruben, Secrets of the Anzacs: The Untold Story of Venereal Disease in the Australian
Army, 1914-1919 (Carlton North: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd., 2015).
Featherstone, Lisa, Lets Talk About Sex: Histories of Sexuality in Australia from Federation to
the Pill (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011).
Larsson, Marina, An Iconography of Suffering: VD in Australia 1914-18, Gender and History,
24/3 (1995), 2-16.
Levine, Philippa, Battle colors: Race, Sex, and colonial soldiery in World War I, Journal of
Womens History, 9/4 (1998), 104-130.
Smart, Judith, Sex, the state and the scarlet scourge: gender, citizenship and venereal
diseases regulation in Australia during the great war, Women's History
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accessed 8 August. 2017.
Sturma, Michael, Public health and sexual morality: venereal disease in World War II Australia,
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 13/4 (1988), 725-740.
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Page two: Venereal Diseases, Warning to Troops, trove.nla.gov.au [Image], (1915),
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122198402, accessed 5 August 2017.
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[Image], (1914),
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i
Ruben Dunbar, Secrets of the Anzacs: The Untold Story of Venereal Disease in the Australian Army, 1914-1919 (Carlton North:
Scribe Publications Pty Ltd., 2015). Vii

ii
The Gundagui Independent (New South Wales), 9 September 1915, p.8.
iii
Michael Sturma, Public health and sexual morality: venereal disease in World War II Australia, Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society, 13/4 (1988), 730.

iv
Judith. A. Allen, Sex & secrets: Crimes involving Australian women since 1880 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990), 102.
v
W.R. Birdwood, Monumental mistake: is war the most important thing in Australian history?, In Anzac's Dirty Dozen: 12 Myths of
Australian Military History, 99/2 (2012), 301.

vi
Marina Larsson, An Iconography of Suffering: VD in Australia 1914-18, Gender and History, 24/3 (1995), 2-16.

vii Philippa Levine, Battle colors: Race, Sex, and colonial soldiery in World War I, Journal of Womens History, 9/4 (1998), 104.

viii
Lisa Featherstone, Lets Talk About Sex: Histories of Sexuality in Australia from Federation to the Pill (Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, 2011), p. 95.

ix
The Northern Miner (Queensland), 20 August, 1915, p. 3.

x
Judith Smart, Sex, the state and the scarlet scourge: gender, citizenship and venereal diseases regulation in Australia during the
great war, Women's History Review, 7/1 (1998), para. 5, in Expanded Academic ASAP [online database], accessed 8 August. 2017
xi Lisa Featherstone, Lets Talk About Sex: Histories of Sexuality in Australia from Federation to the Pill (Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, 2011), p. 95.
xii
The Workers Trade Union Print (Sydney), 5 August 1915, p.4.

xiii
The Woman Voter (Melbourne), 13 January 1915, p.3.