The WW1 Sexual Liberation.

 The WW1 Sexual Liberation.

We tend to think of WW1 as the blood, mud and slaughter of the trenches, plucky young public  schoolboys off to fight for King/Kaiser and country, everyone in uniform and vast amounts of patriotic duty.

What we tend to forget is the increase in STDs, pregnancy, back street abortions, rise of homosexuality and the booming prostitution industry. Prostitution and warfare go hand in hand throughout history, name a war or siege lines and somewhere there will be a pimp or madam with their girls/boys turning a trade. 

The British Army had always turned a blind eye to it, they encouraged their troops not to engage in the trade but it was accepted that it happened and still does although officially it’s against Kings Regulations. During WW1, each new recruit was given a note from Lord Kitchener to not participate in the “wine and women of France”, this also applied to back home in Blighty. Around the garrison towns, departure docks and the new training camps popping up all over the country, brothels old and new we’re doing a roaring trade. Many of the young men joining up where straight from school and had been told that sex was for only married couples, these men and boys knew that they would face almost certain death once in France and being a virgin was always a thing of ridicule from more seasoned men. Unfortunately for these young men, many temperance groups formed Morality Patrols, these women armed with a cane would berate and whip any man or woman engaging in the practice. 

On Arrival in France however it was a different story, condoms became available from 1917, prior to this French one’s could be purchased. The French Army ran official brothels for its military, it had done from the 1880s until the late 1990s. The idea was simple, their official and licensed brothels meant the prostitutes had to have constant STD checks slowed and stopped the spread of VD amongst the Army. They would bring in girls from all over France and even special shows from the working girls of Paris and it’s exclusive brothels. The Military Brothels like all things was separated by rank, Officers, NCOs and troops had their own establishment and often different levels of girls working. 

The Germans, Austro-Hungarians and Russians all

had similar arrangements, most of them unofficial but tolerated by Command. The Ottoman Empire, with its Muslim values officially outlawed it but it probably still went on.

The only nation that outright banned its men from

engaging in the use of brothels and fined any man caught using one was the United States. Anyone caught by the Military Police could be fined up to $10 and more if he tested positive for an STD. 

STDs could however save your life, if you caught say gonorrhoea or syphilis then you would be pulled from

The Front and sent to a military hospital for treatment which means you might just miss that dreaded “going over the top”.

Homosexuality, saw an increase and it became more socially accepted in some areas. Many men who had either repressed their sexuality or had no idea about it also found it easier to experience it, many brothels catered for homosexuals with certain “women” being men in drag and available for rent.

On the Home Front, especially in Britain more women found themselves being forced together to work in factories, hospitals and a variety of other jobs living in shared flats or barracks. The rise of lesbian relationships grew and although it was not uncommon to see women walking arm in arm, it took on another meaning. Many women’s fiancés, husbands and boyfriends were killed, many moved on and found new love with other men but others especially from the upper classes where their marriage had been an arrangement found comfort with new girlfriends and would go on to live together but blamed the war for not marrying.

All of this sexual liberation would fuel the post war changes in equality for women and quite literally make the 1920s roar and in some cases swing.