Author Topic: How does one catch gonorrhoea?  (Read 3898 times)

Offline Viktoria

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #18 on: Thursday 10 June 21 19:57 BST (UK) »
Well figures don’t exist .
However, men don’tget pregnant and certainly in the time of
WW1 It was a bold woman who would have sex with someone other than her husband,so per se it was much less common for a woman to pass Gonorrhoea
to her husband ,because the fear of pregnancy was a good “ contraceptive “ by way of being a deterrent ,so no I can’t be sure but can you be sure it was the other way?
British soldiers in France were able to access prostitutes pretty easily, should they choose to do so.
They got treatment as we know , so may not have been infected when they returned to home life.But some would be.
But just to mention Manchester ,for all  along Piccadilly, down Market  St , in Lewis’s Arcade, Cross St,- the “ Ladies of the night” stood waiting  for customers,in broad daylight!
The Uni students always played that up on Shrove Tuesday in Rag Week.
You did not see men waiting for “ customers”.
On a visit from College to a clinic treating venereal diseases.
The figures spoke for  themselves ,75/25%.men to women  patients  ., many women had no idea from what they were suffering and had no idea how they had got the disease!
When the only way was explained to them ,it was often the first they knew that their husbands had been unfaithful .
I remember one woman’s comment,passed to us by  the M,O. “ I waited for him to come home all through the war ,never bothered with other men and he has brought this to me”.
I really think it was more often men infecting decent women who were not prostitutes, than the other way round ie, decent women infecting men, there has to be sexual contact with an infected person, that was usually a prostitute.
Ordinary women generally did not wait for “business ,” in well known spots.!

Of course the women who infected men were very often prostitutes.
It does not occur spontaneously !
It is passed on in adults only one way!

So I stand by my statement.
I have however not blamed women who earn a living by prostitution, as you say it was often the only way they could earn  a living , but they continued to work ,out of necessity I agree, ,knowing full well they were infectious.
It comes back to unfaithful, men in great part.!
Viktoria.

Offline Annie65115

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #19 on: Thursday 10 June 21 20:08 BST (UK) »
1. i had no idea, Viktoria, that you were old enough to remember WW1.

2. One reason for the disparity between males and females wrt STIs is that men who have sex with men run a higher risk of STIs than do women or men who only have sex with women. Of course men didn't stand and wait for clients back in the days when homosexuality was illegal; but I can assure you that such transactions take place nonetheless.

3. Please can we drop the idea that some women are "decent" (ie have less sex, that's really what you mean!) and by extension, others are not?

Longstanding "joke" (in the same vein as an alcoholic being someone who drinks more than his/her doctor):   q. Define promiscuity.   a. someone who has more sex than I do.
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Offline hunkyhywel

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #20 on: Thursday 10 June 21 22:02 BST (UK) »
Well this thread took an entertaining turn! As it happens, my question was mere clickbait to attract some helpers!
Big thanks to KGarrad for reading 'astringent' and Ruskie and Bookbox for reading the locations, it's really helped me track Francis down in new record sets!!
Thank you Annie for sassy demonstrations of your intimate knowledge of humanity's sexual habits in detail and related diseases.

Offline Viktoria

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #21 on: Thursday 10 June 21 22:04 BST (UK) »
I was not talking about homosexuals, I was comparing women who stood waiting for customers,clients ,call them what you will , with men who did the
approaching  not standing around waiting to be approached by women.
I used the word decent to differentiate between women who were not sexually active in the way prostitutes were ,including as decent married women faithful to their husbands .
 
I am 84.

My father was a soldier in France in WW1 ,he recounted many things but not of course what the original post was about .
I lived in Belgium for twelve years and know the battlefields at Ypres so well, and so have  read so much of the literature  of the time.
Read any history of that war and  the “ mademoiselles “ from “Armentiers “  or anywhere else are often mentioned.
Robert Graves’ , “ Goodbye to all that “,Richard Aldington’s “Death of a Hero”.
etc.mention the problem of STD.s
You don’t have to be well over 100 years old to know about WW1 ,just read and listen as I did to someone who had been through it.

 That  prostitutes were mentioned by me and women not prostitutes were labelled as “ decent” was to differentiate .
Necessity dictates often ,but to continue working when infected probably knowing what the results of that could be , including infected babies , well, it is not very responsible ,even though there was the need to earn .
I did not condemn ,if you don’t like the term “ decent “ what would you use to differentiate between women who earn a living in that way ,accommodating men and facilitating their unfaithfulness and women who have a more normal sex life and stay faithful..The decent part pertains to the immorality of a life in prostitution compared with a faithful monogamous  wife.

You have chosen to come over all righteous indignation ,I am not aware of your age but you must also understand how things have drastically changed,attitudes vastly altered ,and moral boundaries have become much more fluid.
And whilst we are more tolerant of things than past generations were, there are still a few things that need to be less relaxed than now.
Only this evening ,it was said girls of eleven were being sexually harassed at school ,last night’s Coronation St. was ,well, phew!
At 7-3o in the evening.
The relaxing of standards can mean often girls are respected  less, that is not
improvement .
So I do not condemn prostitutes, it has even been said they could have saved many marriages !
Women can have as much sex as they  choose to have, note I say choose!
If they choose to be promiscuous ,then they too run risks., but they made a choice.
There is little choice in a life of prostitution  though, ,nor money as Pimps control the  “girls”.
When I said decent , I referred to women who were not promiscuous , often by choice , staying loyal to their vows,and there are still many who do keep those.
Think of another term, to describe such women if you don’t like “ decent” .
But you assumed  too much by my use of that word ,so have you got one you think more fitting ?
Viktoria.





Offline Johnf04

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #22 on: Friday 11 June 21 01:43 BST (UK) »
My OH was in the forces and it was common knowkledge that only "Other Ranks" caught Venereal Disease from the opposite sex.   Officers caught it from toilet seats.
My father was in the Navy during the war - he was told that only Winston Churchill and the Archbishop of Canterbury were allowed to catch VD from a toilet seat.
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Offline majm

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #23 on: Friday 11 June 21 02:12 BST (UK) »
I was born in 1947.   By the outbreak of WWI, All four of my grandparents were already married and starting their families, so as a child I had many family members (Grandparents, Great aunts/Uncles, as well as my parents and their siblings) to learn about THE WARS, THE DEPRESSION .... and ... about:
Decent Women
The Ladies of the Night
Babies born on the Wrong Side of the Bed
Women on Street Corners

Here's an edited version of a rural NSW town's 'dust up' in early 1960s

Alice who went from being a DECENT Woman to being FALLEN

 :) Next door's Alice got engaged - you could prove this because she had a shiny ring on her ring finger on her left hand.
 :) There was a fisty cuffs next door, and the men got 'thumped' by Alice's Mr PIMP.
 :) Mr Pimp was a postman but on the weekends, he got Alice to service the married Men who went without
 :) Alice's brothers found out
 :) Alice's brothers thumped Mr Pimp back
 :) Mr Walloper arrested Mr Pimp and drove him to drink
 :) Alice got very fat and had to take her ring off
 :) Alice sold her ring to make ends meet
 :) David arrived next door from the hospital.  He was eight days old.
 :) Mum gave Alice lots of second hand clothes for baby David.
 :) Alice kept baby David even though everyone said she was a FALLEN woman.
 
David grew up, and he is still in contact with my youngest sibling.  His mum is still alive.  She never married,  her Mum 'came good' and let her stay at home to raise David.    David's father was never heard of again after being dismissed from the CofA Public Service for bringing the Post Office into 'disrepute' but Alice required ongoing medical treatment for the G and David too.

JM
 
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Offline River Tyne Lass

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #24 on: Friday 11 June 21 11:27 BST (UK) »
What a sad tale about poor Alice being treated as a thing to be used.  Good to read that your Mother had some compassion and helped out with clothes for baby David. 
Some people have an easy road through life but this sadly seems not to have been  the case for Alice. 
She was a human being and respect to her, she managed to keep her baby even though things must have been very tough.
In my view, it was the people who 'used' her who were more the 'fallen' ones.
We might all have our different views on this but I am 100% against prostitution.  I think this is just some people taking advantage of and exploiting people (even children sadly).  I know it is said that for some it is a lifestyle choice.  But if so, in my opinion it would be a very poor choice and using 'prostitutes' is unjustifiable. 
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Offline Lisajb

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #25 on: Friday 11 June 21 12:49 BST (UK) »
My OH was in the forces and it was common knowkledge that only "Other Ranks" caught Venereal Disease from the opposite sex.   Officers caught it from toilet seats.
My father was in the Navy during the war - he was told that only Winston Churchill and the Archbishop of Canterbury were allowed to catch VD from a toilet seat.

My dad, during his time as a sick berth petty officer, treated men who'd caught something. He said they were all warned before they had some time ashore, lots of them didn't listen, and would turn up in sick bay a while later - "Sir, I think I've got a dose."
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Offline Rena

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Re: How does one catch gonorrhoea?
« Reply #26 on: Friday 11 June 21 13:21 BST (UK) »

As it happens, my question was mere clickbait to attract some helpers!


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At my age, I'm not too keen on cynically being baited - as with most rootschatters I just wanted to help give an opinion on the times we used to live in.   
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