CARRYING DISEASE
A DOCTOR'S SEVERE COMMENT
(BI TEI.IGKAPH.— I'KESS ASSOCIATION.)
CHRISTCHURCH. 20th April
Dealing with the work of the genitourinary and venereal diseases department, the superintendent of the Christchurch Hospital (Dr. Fox), in his annual report to the board, states that this department still fulfils a useful purpose. It will not attain to its maximum hygienic fullness until the law enforces attendance. It is true, the report stated, that notification has been instituted, but without a decree of segregation it is difficult to see how compulsion can be forced on to those who knowingly are- spreading disease. "We have no difficulty v.-ith the men," adds Dr. Fox. '" They are- the victims o{ unscrupulous women, and they faithfully attend to ilieir treatment, with every desire to get well. They are not degenerates, nor morally depraved. The women, on the other hand, are totally different. They are morally the cause of all the venereal troubles. Largely because they are sexually depraved, and have little or no sense of moral responsibility, while still knowingly unclean they contiuue soliciting. As a rule they arc casual workers, never staying aiiy length of time anywhere. The hygienic patrol, who spends all her day hunting these girls and trying to persuade them to attend, is evaded and lied to at all turns. Only a small fraction of these girls ever arrive at the clinic. Whether the new notification order will bring about better results remains to be seen. Outside of lock and key, my impression is that all our effort and money expenditure is more or less wasted on the ordinary flapper prostitutes, who constitute 99 per cent, of venereal carriers."
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 92, 21 April 1925, Page 11
Word Count
274CARRYING DISEASE Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 92, 21 April 1925, Page 11
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