Victorian Pros and Poetry

Abstract

In 1864, the British Parliament passed the first Contagious Diseases Act, which allowed police officers in specified garrison towns to arrest suspected prostitutes, compel them to undergo gynecological examinations, and incarcerate those thought to be contagious in lock hospitals. William Acton's medical and sociological study Prostitution Considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects (1857) significantly contributed to creating a climate of support for passing and extending the regulatory power of the Acts. Acton's book has often been criticized by scholars for its literary and stylistic qualities, but these very aspects may account for the rhetorical power of Acton's prose. This essay contends that Acton strategically used formal devices, including allusions, etymologies, and metaphors, to substantiate political arguments he could not support with medical and statistical evidence. Examining the work in this context reveals the textual mechanisms through which limiting the liberty of women was problematically but powerfully rationalized in the name of public health.