The 19th Century, or “Victorian
Era,” was an extremely revolutionary time in America. The American Revolution
was now over and America began to see exponential economic growth. Society
became increasingly industrialized and modernized. Science and medicine also
had a giant breakthrough in this era with many bright minds like Thomas Edison
and Alexander Graham Bell. All of these new ideas and technologies inspired
Americans to question their roots and begin to ask more questions. This led to much
experimentation, especially sexual experimentation, in this era as shown
through these various social and biological ideas.[1]
This newfound sense of liberation encouraged young Americans in this time
period to be free and express themselves without the fear of going against old
traditions.
As one can imagine, the amount of sex Americans were having during
this time period was extremely higher than the past. Sex became extremely
widespread throughout this time period and began to reach a point where it
could not be well controlled. STDs began to infect people at an alarming rate
and no methods of combating STDs were yet developed. The most common STD in
Victorian America was syphilis with an estimated ten percent of all Americans
suffering from it.[2] Syphilis
is a chronic contagious usually venereal and often congenital
disease caused by a spirochete (Treponema pallidum) and if left untreated producing chancres, rashes, and systemic
lesions in a clinical course with three stages continued over many years.[3] Since medicine and contraception was a relatively new thing in
this era, help was nearly impossible to come by and there was no readily available
cure. In an attempt to combat syphilis, doctors and inventors such as Charles
Goodyear began developing and advocating the use of rubber condoms which were
now extremely cheap and easy to make compared to the sheep guts condoms
previously reserved for the upper class.[4] Treatment and prevention was not just reserved for males, however.
Most females used douching as a method of treating syphilis and other possible
STDs.[5] Douching is essentially spraying water into the vagina in an
effort to clean it out. No real cures would arrive until the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries but at least the American people had a head start on
treating these awful diseases.
[1]
Marsh, Jan. Victoria and Albert
Museum, "Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century." Accessed March 30,
2014. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/sex-and-sexuality-19th-century/.
[3]
Merriam-Webster,
"syphilis." Accessed March 30, 2014.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syphilis.
[4]
Case Western Reserve University,
"19th Century Artifacts." Accessed March 30, 2014.
http://www.case.edu/affil/skuyhistcontraception/online-2012/19thCentury.html.
[5]
Ibid
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