Ettie A. Rout

This little book, published in 1922 and reissued for decades thereafter by London-based Heinemann Medical Books, became downloadable as a free Project Gutenberg eBook in 2005. It summarizes a bold New Zealand feminist's ethnographic observations and interviews with sources ranging from Parisian and British M.D.s to helpful brothel owners and self-protecting soldiers. It concentrates on explaining the case for teaching men and women about post-sex washing, with the help of bidets when necessary, to prevent traditional sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis and gonorrhea.

As a result of these efforts, following the publication of related articles in American scientific journals, post-sex washing to prevent Venereal Diseases became a staple of the first aid training that American military medics provided for new military recruits. Yet their higher-ups avoided publicizing this development in order to avoid sanctions and censorship by socially conservative civic leaders and office-holders.

In "No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880" (Oxford University Press, 1985, 1987), historian of science Allan M. Brandt details this tortured history before concluding that its continuance might prevent American public health officials from advocating post-sex washing as well as condom use to prevent HIV Infections and AIDS. Long affiliated with Harvard Medical School, where some of his colleagues advocate post-sex washing as well as condom use to prevent STDs on the health-information site "Intellihealth.com," Allan Brandt currently serves as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.… (mehr)