Josephine Butler And The Prostitution Campaigns The Constitution Violated

Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns: The moral reclaimability of prostitutes

This five volume set deals in detail with Josephine Butler's campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in Britain and the Colonies. At present, access to Butler's work is restricted as a number of relevant anthologies are out of print. The bulk of these can only be read in specialist libraries and the original copies are becoming increasingly fragile after a century of use. This edited collection makes her writing accessible once again, setting it in an appropriate historical context. In addition to Butler's own work, the thematically ordered volumes include related texts which are important for understanding her campaign. This allows the reader to position Josephine Butler in relation to her opponents and to follow the response to her activities. All the texts are complete and reproduced in facsimile - there are pamphlets, books, media responses to Butler's activities, letters to The Times, articles from The Lancet, Pall Mall Gazette, The Shield and The Dawn as well as private letters both to and from Butler. The set is introduced through a substantial essay by Jane Jordan, one of the leading international scholars on Butler's life and works, and each volume contains a short introduction by the editors which contextualises the selections. Butler writes clearly and vividly, combining impeccable logic with passionate commitment. She does not soften her message to protect the sensibilities of her audience. She is uncompromising in her analysis, determined to 'set a floodlight on your doings' as she told a stunned royal commission in 1871. Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns demonstrates the great importance of this fascinating campaigner's work.

Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns: The constitution violated

British Women Travellers in the Long Nineteenth Century

During the long nineteenth century, British women reframed the masculine paradigm of the Grand Tour. They created a feminist travel gaze, intentionally or unintentionally, that differed from that of male peers. Unlike their brothers, who went for personal edification, women with means left their English homes for the great Italian cities of Florence, Naples, and Rome to escape personal disappointments and the social limitations imposed by parents, spouses, and society. The anonymity of travel to a distant land and new freedoms fostered political and creative achievements, including entrepreneurial journalism, literary masterpieces, and social advocacy for their gender, which redefined the contours of the Anglo-Italian cultural landscape. The historical evidence presented here testifies to the life-changing capacity of travel and firmly demonstrates how British women’s history and literature enriches and broadens narratives about Britain and the World.