Name: The World War II battle against STDs
Uploaded: 2019-01-03T14:46:06.000Z
Duration: 12 min 20 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

This is Casablanca, in Morocco, as the US War department mapped it in 1942.

They noted everything from the cement works to the hippodrome.

“Across the Mediterranean to Oran, then by train or auto to Casablanca in French Morocco.”

But there was an area missing from the movie screen, just beneath the Southern border of

This is Bousbir, a walled off sex district in Morocco.

It had an official medical dispensary and a police station.

Practically speaking, prostitutes were prisoners within these walls.

On December 10, 1942, American troops opened Bousbir's gates.

What happened in the next three days in Bousbir is an encapsulation of the surprising ways

the American military, and many militaries around the world, fought venereal disease

Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis, also known as venereal diseases,

or VD, were a significant problem in America at the time.

World War II raised the rates and the stakes.

Rates varied widely by geographic region, rank, and service branch.

But for example, this chart shows a distribution in the US Air Force in Continental Europe.

In October 1944, 120 out of 1000 servicemen had VD.

In August 1944, when the US Seventh Army was liberating France in “Operation Dragoon,”

“The Army recognizes the risks present with a large number of men and the satisfaction

How did the United States fight STDs in the military, while dealing with the stakes and

How did their tactics complement — and clash with — today's values?

“The greatest risk...is that...of venereal...diseases.”

“If you're smart, you'll keep away from prostitutes and pickups.

They're not safe — and they can't be made safe.”

Long before this advice during World War II, VD was a problem in the military.

This War Department chart estimated VD rates in the US Army - that peak is actually during

But the Great War — World War I — started a new era of global war and mass compulsory

A military draft greatly expanded the pool of soldiers, making education and propaganda

The United States Public Health Service wanted men, the primary audience, to avoid “prostitutes

But if they did have sex, it provided instructions for combating disease.

Women were given similar instructions — abstain if possible, but if they did “have intercourse

with any man except your husband, make him wear a rubber.”

Starting in 1914, the American Social Hygiene association formed to boost VD awareness,

producing pamphlets and even creating exhibits like this.

The army also made it clear that managing VD was part of the war effort.

The most famous example was General John Pershing's General Order No. 77, which ordered commanders

to attend to venereal infections by running small clinics, or prophylaxis stations, dedicated

to VD, making “no half-hearted efforts.”

Congress joined the VD fray as well with serious laws focused on areas near training camps.

The government shut down red light districts, often clustered near training camps, and

“Birds-eye view of a typical rapid treatment center in a Southern state, located in a former

CCC camp, as are many of these hospitals.

Here, infected women are treated with new intensive therapies for syphilis and gonorrhea.”

This created clinics that would last through the 1930s, like this mobile one.

Just before World War II, America was having a national conversation about the VD problem

outside of the military as well, with the Surgeon General writing a book about it.

The book encouraged regular tests for syphilis.

So once World War II began, all of these strategies would be in play again, and they'd need

“It is extremely important that you do not go on a drinking party and allow yourself

to become so drunk that you get careless.

Drunkenness is responsible for much venereal disease.”

Movies like Sex Hygiene were compulsory viewing.

But focusing on propaganda overlooks that there were multiple strategies which the military

The war on VD focused on prevention, treatment, and control, and these efforts interacted

As early as 1926, the government began cutting soldiers' pay if they missed work due to VD.

That was paired with Sex Hygiene, the film and pamphlet, which included info on “wet

dreams,” “masturbation (self-abuse),” and “sex relations.”

That was matched with advice that sex “should be kept for marriage” with eventual entreaties

Inflate it with air as you would a toy balloon until the rubber is fully extended.”

The army also distributed medicine to soldiers.

“Another good way not to get VD is to use the army's new pro kit.

This was the paradox in military propaganda - prostitutes were clearly labeled as disease

carriers, but recommendations to get a prophylactic, or “pro kit“ held equal emphasis.

The government also acted aggressively to curb prostitution.

The May Act gave the Federal government the right to bust brothels if local areas couldn't.

It was used near American military bases, like at Fort Bragg.

The Surgeon General also established Venereal Control Officers that year, with duties largely

Subtitles ListPlay Video

The World War II battle against STDs

general

hygiene

interact

disease