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' SHADOW OVER NEW ZEALAND ' : THE
RE�PONSE TO VENEREAL DI SEASE IN NEW ZEALAND 1 9 1 0 - 1 94 5
A the s i s pres ented i n ful f i lment o f the
requi rements for the degree of Doc tor of Phi l osophy in H i s tory at Hassey Univer s i ty
MAlllliflllifll iiillllvllll Iii iifv
1061938449
Phi l ip J. Fleming 1 98 9
ABSTRACT
The pe r iod f rom 1 9 1 0 to 1 9 4 5 saw t he top i c o f venereal d i sease become an i nc reas ingly publ i c one as po l i t i c i ans , health adm i n i s t rators and other i nte rested g roups
attempted to f o rmul ate an e f fect ive response to the menace wh i c h i t was bel i eved that the se d i se ases po sed to the nat ional heal th .
This the s i s sets out to exp l o re how New Zeal and re sponded to t he ' threat ' o f venereal d i sease i n t h i s pe r i od and to exam ine t he tens i ons wh i c h accompani e d thi s . The �aj o r source o f , f r i c t i o n was the anx i ety o f s ome
wome n ' s groups - and i n part i c u l ar t he Wome n ' s Chr i s t i an Tempe rance Union - t hat Gove rnment moves to ' toughen up ' the ex i s t i ng venereal d i sease l e g i s l at i on threatened the c iv i l l ibert i e s o f t he nat i on's women and s i g na l l ed a
return to the o ne - s ided contag i ous d i seases l e g i s l at ion of t he prev ious century .
After c hart i ng t h i s re sponse i t examines the
anx i e t i e s , aspi rat ions and assumpt i ons which helped to shape i n i t i at ives on venereal d i sease and to de f i ne the boundaries w i t h i n wh i c h debate on the i s sue took p l ac e and w i t h in whi c h soc i a l l y and moral l y acceptabl e sol u t i ons were formu l ated . It sugges t s t hat the h i gh l evel o f
concern w i t h the i s sue o f venereal d i sease i n t h i s period was not due s o l e l y to med i cal factors but was a re sponse to soc i al c hange i nc lud i ng c hanges in the r e l at ionship between the sexe s , t he behav i our o f t he young and new
deve l opments i n the f ie ld o f popu l ar c u l ture . To
protagon i sts , debate o n the venereal d i sease i s sue o f fe red a c hance to art i cu l ate these anx ie t i e s and an opportun ity to h i ghl i g ht the soc i al cost of the a l l eged moral decl ine of the nat i on . Analys i s of the epi sode al so suggests that these concerns were he i ghtened by aspi rat ions about New Zealand soc iety and the des i re to avo i d the i l l s of the
' o l d world ' .
Anal ys i s o f t he per i od a l so suggests t hat wh i l e the years f rom 1 9 1 0 to 1 9 4 5 w i tnessed c hange in the med ical t reatme nt o f these d i sease s , there was cons i d e rabl e
cont i nu i ty i n att i tudes towards the i s sue . In part i c u l ar the re was a pe rs i stent ne rvousne s s about the promo t i on o f prophyl ax i s and about publ i c d i sc us s i on on t h e subj e c t . Expl anat ions for t h i s nervousness are exam i ne d i n the second part of the thes i s .
The the s i s c onc ludes by c r i t ical l y exam i n i ng the
theo reti cal apparatu s wh i c h some commentators hav e used to analyse t he t op i c abroad . It sug g e s t s that attempt s to port ray a c l ash betwee n moral and med i cal v i ewpo ints are not appropr i ate to the New Zeal and e xpe r ience and r e flect ,
i nstead , the assumpt ions o f modern obs e rvors . It a l s o sug gests that attempts b y f em i n i s t h i s to r i ans to port ray i n i t iat ives on vene real d i sease as a c rude attempt to impose soc i a l contro l on women r i s k d i s tort i ng
contemporary real i t y and i gnor i ng the comple x i t i e s o f the contemporary context .
CONTENTS
I NTRODUCTION
POLITICAL I N I T IATIVES 1 9 1 0 - 2 2
PROTAGON I STS
I NQUIRY AND ACT I ON 1 9 2 2 - 3 9
WAR PRESSURES 1 9 3 9- 4 5
ANX I ET I ES
BOUNDARI ES
CONTROL
CONCLU S I ON
B I BLIOGRAPHY
Page 1
1 8
4 2
6 2
8 3
1 0 2
1 3 0
1 6 5
2 0 1
2 1 8
F I GURE 1 .
F IGURE 2 .
LIST OF I LLUSTRATIONS
Numbe rs o f pat ients t reated fac i ng p . 1 6 f o r the f i rs t t i me at an
outpat ient c l i n i c and f ound to be s u f f e r ing f rom syph i l i s and gono rrhea
Numbe rs of pe rsons apprehe nded fac i ng p . 9 4 o r summonsed f o r ( i ) s o l i c i t i ng
pro s t i tut i o n ; ( i i ) kee p i ng d i sorde r l y hous e s and brothe l s
A I &M A . J . H . R .
N . Z . P . D .
N . Z . S .
WTu
ABBREVIAT IONS
Auckland I ns t i tu t e and Museum
Append i c e s to t h e Journal o f t h e House of Repre sentat i ve s
New Zealand Parl i amentary De bate s
New Zeal and Statute s
Wh i t e R i bbon
Alexander Turnbu l l L i brary
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe a debt of g rat i tude to my s upe rv i so r s , P ro f e s sor J . C. Dav i s , P r o fe s s o r W . H. Ol iver and Dr M . A. Tennant , for the i r adv i c e and guidance throughout my course of s tudy and to my f r i e nd s and c o l l eague s at the H i s t o ry Department o f Mas sey Univers i ty who consp i red to prov i d e a f r i e ndly and c onduc ive atmo sphe re dur i ng my t ime the re .
I wou ld a l so l i ke to ac knowledge the obl i g i ng s e rv ice rende red by the staff of t he Mas sey Un i v e r s i t y , V i ct o r i a Un ive rs ity , A l exander Turnbu l l and Gene ral A s s embl y
l i brar i e s . Thanks are also due t o the s t a f f o f Nat i onal Arc h i ve s , the Auck l and I nst itute and Muse um L i brary and the Cante rbury Museum L ibrary .
Above a l l I woul d l i ke to ac knowledge the s uppo rt and encouragement o f my parent s , w i thout wh i c h t h i s t he s i s woul d not have been po s s i b l e.
