Josephine BUTLER - Contre la prostitution en France - 1871

JOSEPHINE BUTLER (1828-1906).

Handwritten letter signed, Liverpool, November 24, 1871.

3 pages in quarto, on the letterhead paper of the Ladies' National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Good overall condition – slight tears at the folds, small stains.

- An important letter from one of the great figures of British feminism -

Following the 1870 war, Josephine Butler demands the abolition in France of the “legal prostitution,” which she calls a “great social plague,” and frames this struggle as a continuation of the abolition of slavery.

Transcription

"Sir,

I have often been consulted by serious thinkers from France who have asked me to obtain the aid of our association to abolish abroad this great social plague called legal prostitution.

For two years, we have fought here against laws recently enacted by our legislation, in imitation of the French code, and we hope soon, with God’s help, to see our efforts crowned with success. The most influential people in our government are of the opinion that these laws will be repealed shortly.

In England and Scotland, the populations have risen in mass against these impure and unjust laws, and there are only the protectors of vice who declare themselves supporters of the French system and who wish to make prostitution a necessity and a part of the social economy.

We, the opponents of this system, do not see prostitution as an incurable evil. No, we believe there is a remedy to destroy this scourge, for to assert that what God has forbidden is a necessity would be blasphemous.

The legislation to which we oppose contains, in itself, all the elements of prostitution, in that it offers a certain protection to men and consequently increases and perpetuates vice.

In England, our working classes have felt with rightful indignation the insult to women by the introduction of these laws, which are, in our country, a violation of our constitutional rights and for which our ancestors shed their blood.

At the Cape of Good Hope, the inhabitants refused to pay taxes that funded these tyrannical laws, and France, which is presently overwhelmed by the burden of a huge war debt, should follow this example.

All those who formerly joined us for the abolition of slavery in our colonies and in America have again allied themselves with us in this crusade against the legal degradation of English women.

Please, Sir, accept our cooperation and our sympathy, and please tell me your thoughts on this grave subject which cannot fail to interest all hearts friendly to justice and freedom.

Respectfully, Sir, accept the assurance of my distinguished consideration."

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