ABSTRACT
In a period of widespread Western debate over the limits and rights of public health enactments, venereal disease (VD) became a focus of intense concern and debate. The powerful mix of moral and sanitary prejudice which characterized nineteenth century anxiety over sexually transmitted diseases viewed sexual libertinism, and more especially prostitution, as the likeliest route of infection. In Britain and its vast colonial possessions a series of acts and ordinances-titled contagious diseases (CD) legislation-specifically named the prostitute as the principal purveyor of VD.
