ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that discourse of sexual morality and the moral panic that developed to control women of child-bearing age, which rose in importance during the war years and from which few escaped. The discourse of sexual morality, particularly amongst women, which arose at the beginning of the war, saw the inevitable outcome in investigations attempting to show concealed abortions, increased incidence of illegitimate children and dissolute mothers as the signs of morally bad women. Sexual chastity traditionally was seen as respectable and the control, particularly of working class women’s morals, was to be replaced by a middle-class social order. The Police Review supported the measures as “when it becomes operative, will do much to abate the present ‘scandal of the streets’” and would help the police to rid the nation of the evil of sexual immorality. Public sexual immorality, the police were advised, would be evident after the war ended and would need their help to continue to regulate.
