ADDRESS GIVEN BY MRS KYNETON PARKES.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 276, 18 June 1918, Page 4

ADDRESS GIVEN BY MRS KYNETON PARKES.

At a Public Meeting held in Timaru during the W.C.T.U. Convention in March, 1918

The President, Mrs Don, was in the chair, and after opening the meeting with a hymn and prayer, she briefly introduced the speaker as one who was going to present her views on the question of Social Hygiene, with special reference to its position in England. Mrs Parkes, in thanking the Executive for allowing her to be present at the deliberations of the Convention, said she was glad to find that the discussion was not confined to Temperance, but dealt also with the causes of intemperance and the evils arising from it. She wished to say first that she was speaking not as .in expert, but as an ordinary observant woman going about and forming her own opinion, and as a suffragist with the women’s point of view always before her, and a strong conviction that the social evil cannot be removed until the double standard of morality is entirely eliminated. When she arrived in New Zealand, Lady Stout showed her Miss Ettie Rout’s letter, and that was the main reason why she was on the platform that evening. She —a mother whose son had gone through Gallipoli and was now in Palestine —and all women who knew their sons to be as pure as themselves, felt righteous indignation against su( h a suggestion as Miss Rout’s, which proved that she had only sup n rfi' i.tl knowledge of the subject. Hut they must have facts, and know and understand the very inside of this vital question. As to what h.id been done at Home to wipe out the stigma of Venereal Disease, it might naturally be asked why, with so many woikers, more had not been done against this and Intemperance and other evils? There was a vital reason which it was difficult for New Zealand women to appreciate; they did not know what a fight at Home was like, nor how im|)ossible it was .o “get a move ojj ’’ It was like working with a pen Knife where New Zealand women could use a saw. Years ago many women engaged in all sorts of work, temperance, |>olitical, etc., but they never got any further; they were blocked because politicians did not care for v anything except for votes. They

might work hard to put a men into Parliament who th»*y thought would do something for some nrccicl reform; they would go and sic him about it, and he wou'd be very wise and invite them to tea on the f erracc, but nothing came of it, tor the) had no votes. Thus they s w that to do any good they must get the franchise. It seemed perfectly wonderful to her how quickly 0 o’clock clos ng was won. How long did it take English pioneer women to pass su. h a simple thing as the Married Women’s Property Act? Thirty years- all for want of the right tools. Social Hygiene was a burning qu ration, and it became much worse in time of war. In every country there was the White Slave Traffic to be checked. One of the best bits of legislation had ben that which endeavoured to alter the state of things under which the polite might see young girls in the hands of men, >et could do nothing on mere suspic on without first getting a warrant. Thus the men wer° allowed to escape. Drastic measures would not be objected to, provided they were of value, but the Royal Commission on Venereal Disease had proved that th" remedies suggested were futile. There were two group-* of persons equally anxious for reform. The Abolitionists would abolish all regulation, arguing that statistics proved that in those European counti es where regulation was best carried out, Venereal Disease was the worst. The Regulationists argued that t was a terrible thing that cine woman with the disease should infec t many men. Granted, but it must be remembered that before a woman could infect a man, she had herself been infected by a man, and also that <jo per cent, of the unfortunate girl prostitutes had in the first instance been betrayed by a man. One must look at both sides of the qu°stion before attempt ng to take action, for panic legislation was always a dangerous thing. Compulsory notification was useless ; regulation was useless. These methods only tended to make vice •safe and easy, without being effective remedies at all. Flcxner, in his book, “Prostitution in Europe,” proved this. He sent everywhere to compile statistics alike in regulation and in unregulated countries. This book, the speaker said, she had begun to read with prejudice, for she feared he would come to a wrong conclusion, through getting only the man’s point of view, But she found

that because he had gone to the bottom of the subject he had got the right point of view, and formed the light conclusion. The English people had tried legislation once by the hated C.D. Acts. All knew the work of Josephine Butler, and how at last the Acts were repealed, evidently recognised by Government to be futile, as indeed they always must be. If it could be ensured that all prostitutes were registered, there might perhaps be something to be said for the measure. But, asked the speaker, what happens to infected women? Lock them up, you say. Does that stop infection while the men go free? Or grant tnat all are locked up, what then? Where do others come from? From amoi g the young girls, and so the evil grows. Even if this were not so, there is anothe r reason. Elexner proves that only about 42 per cent, are professed prostitutes, and registered; 50 per cent, are women engaged in other occupations. Suppose you make them register, at once you brand them. Many indeed do try to “sc ape* from the hateful bondage, hut once* branded, they have lost all hope. The s ime evasions and the same* subterfuges are practised alike in Paris, wh’re regulation exists, and in London, where there is none. A determined effort has been made at Home to show the close connection between Prostitution and Drink. The music halls have doiv a great deal, for it is not merely a question of a man and a woman, hut of some one in the* background making a profit, drying to introduce State regulation is working at the wrong end. It is a matter of supply and demand. The supply is endless through the Whiteslave* Traffic, therefore the only solution is to deal with the demand. When you hear of the dancing halls on the Continent, where the supply is almost unlimited, you know that the demand is an artificial one. So we realise there is some hope, if we can get people to look at the matter from qu te a different point of view. Hitherto society has not demanded that aicn shall be chaste, but the time is coming when society will demand it. As in slavery, there are two factors, the slave and the slave-holder, so in prostitution. If it is a crime, both sides are guilty, the man equally with ihe woman, and the punishment of the latter stops none of the objections that society fe*ds to prostitution. So the remedy that rests on maintaining

male superiority is unjust and futile. But things are changing, and the stig ina will be removed from the woman and applied to the man. It was to overthrow this belief in a different standard for the sexes that we worked so hard for Woman Suffrage, and not for ourselves only, for we knew that other countries would not give the franchise til! England did. That regulation is worse than futile i*' the conclusion also of police office! s, many of whom are compelled to adminstcr a system of which they do not approve. If then, we believe that the methods hitherto tried are futile, if we consider Miss Rout’s suggestion utterly wrong, what do we suggest? The remedy that is put forward by scientists and by doctors, namely, that continence is not bad for the health of a man but the reverse. If indulgence were absolutely necessary, if the oft repeated phrase, “ministering to a man’s necessity” expressed the truth rather than ‘‘ministering to a man’s vice,” then we might to honour the prostitute who thus sacrifices hers'df for the sake of the man’s necessity. But the latest medical opinion is quite opposed to the old ideas. Continence is regarded now as feasible and good, as conducive instead of damaging to the health.* Most* men can get on all right without sexual intercourse. So we want to sav to our boys: Purity is possible. This power is intended by n.iture for reproduction, and that alone. If you break this law you will suffer. But this is only a low ground to take. Teach our young nv*n that disease is certain to spring from prom scuous intercourse, but teac h them also the absolute power of right thought. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. 'Think you can do a thing, and you can; despair of your ability to do right, and you forthwith lose it. God does not lead us into temptation, but H'* does deliver us from evil. Alas, that we have so mis understood Christ, and His teaching! He who bid His followers to be perfect even as the Heavenly* Father is perfect, meant that we can be perfect. It is for us to believe this, and to base our lives on this eternal truth.

*ln this connection all should procure from the Literature Department, and study, the leaflet, ‘‘A Man’s Question and Its Answer,” by Mrs Ha rverson,