Josephine Butler seems in some ways to be a lady before her time, a model for today’s feminists, anachronistically living within the Victorian era. That’s actually how she is commonly perceived by the trendy left. She is even criticised for being too feminist by critics of the movement, who react against a few of its extremes.
It is true that she boldly and fearlessly campaigned to finish unjust laws that forced prostitutes to undergo degrading ‘checks’ for sexually transmitted diseases – effectively state-sanctioned sexual assault. She was not afraid of the material, which many thought shameful on the time. She cared deeply in regards to the affected women, and privately tried to assist women to flee sex work, even inviting them to live together with her to this end.
Yet in some ways she was very unlike modern feminists, as she was deeply Christian and conservative, and promoted faith and chastity as the answer to social problems similar to prostitution. This was not only because of the influence of the era, as there have been other more morally liberal campaigners. It was her own personal conviction.
Born in 1828 and passing away in 1906, she knew little else than the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It’s a period of history that has loads of unfavourable stereotypes: repressed, moralistic, hypocritical, and deeply religious, for instance.
In fact it was a captivating time of incredible social change and deep Christian concern, and there have been many believers who worked hard for a greater world, Josephine included.
Biographer Rod Garner, in Josephine Butler: a guide to her life, faith and social motion, describes her as: “a lady who brought courage and an indomitable will to a protracted struggle on behalf of the ‘poor, the weak and the friendless.’ She believed that God was on their side and that they mustn’t be left to perish as outcasts in a society that had held them to be of little or no account. She did all this in an attitude of prayer… she was a Christian with a deep love for Christ but no great love for organised religion.”Â
For this work, she had a real partner in George, her devout husband who desired a “perfectly equal union” of their marriage. His ordained work as a teacher would complement her social outreach.
With his full support, she began to work with poor women in workhouses – the desperate institutions where individuals who couldn’t afford to live were forced to exist to be able to get board and food. When she invited a number of the women to live together with her, it was to try to help them get on their feet without resorting to prostitution. Together the couple began a “House of rest,” a refuge for them. She campaigned for higher wages for ladies, who would suffer terribly in the event that they didn’t have a husband or father to support them, because of lower pay.
However, what she became most known for was her work to oppose the ‘Contagious Diseases Acts’ which first got here into force in 1864, to not be repealed until 20 years later. The laws was conceived to attempt to quell an outbreak of venereal disease, which had spread in ports where men within the military would use sex employees. The laws gave police the facility to arrest and force women to be examined. If evidence of disease was discovered, they could possibly be confined to a ‘lock hospital’ until cured.
Many men and ladies of the time – including Florence Nightingale – considered the laws unjust, especially as men weren’t subject to the identical maltreatment. May of those protesters got here from the conservative standpoint that men should control their sex drives and that a prostitute was not an appropriate means by which such urges could possibly be satisfied.
At a time when prostitution was effectively regulated by the federal government, Josephine began “British and Continental Federation for the Abolition of Prostitution” that campaigned for the tip of sex work and trafficking, or “the abolition of female slavery and the elevation of public morality amongst men”.
Butler was appalled to find that child prostitution was common, and that English girls were being sold to continental Europe for sex, and she or he fought this too. She contributed to the arrest of brothel owners and corrupt police in Belgium who were involved on this horrendous trade.
As well as conservative Christianity, she had other beliefs that may be out of favour with many modern feminists. For example, she didn’t condemn colonialism outright, because she believed that the British were working to enhance conditions within the affected countries. “With all her faults, checked out from God’s perspective, England is one of the best, and the least guilty of the nations,” she wrote in her work Native races and the war. In it, she also condemned using the ‘n’ word, and wrote a prescient statement:
“It is my deep conviction that Great Britain will in future be judged, condemned or justified, in response to her treatment of those innumerable colored races, heathen or partly Christianized, over whom her rule extends, or who, beyond the sphere of her rule, claim her sympathy and help as a Christian and civilizing power to whom a terrific trust has been committed … Race prejudice is a poison which may have to be forged out if the world is ever to be Christianized, and if Great Britain is to take care of the high and responsible place among the many nations which has been given to her.”
Though best known for her social campaigning, she also wrote many books, totally on social issues, but in addition biographies similar to of Saint Catherine of Siena. Garner believes Butler was drawn to this woman because of shared concerns: contemplative prayer, concern for the state of society and a desire for reform.
Her writings describe a deep and private faith. She ‘gave whole nights to prayer… it was a desire to know God and my relation to Him’, in response to one letter. And her work was also supported by public devotion:
“Throughout the campaign, Butler prayed with women on the streets, and taught others to do the identical,” concludes liberal Christian magazine Plough Quarterly. “She prayed with leaders from every political party and each religious denomination. She formed networks of prayer that connected those that lacked social and political agency with those that held great power.”
Like William Wilberforce and other social campaigners, a deep and orthodox Christian faith was combined with tireless social motion and work towards justice – in addition to socially conservative beliefs. The combination appears unusual to us, as we’re used to the trendy “culture wars” between social conservatives and progressives. But the old ways produced astonishing results, as Butler’s life demonstrates.
Heather Tomlinson is a contract Christian author. Find her at www.heathertomlinson.substack.com or on twitter @heathertomli
