“Sex prejudice” and professional identity: Women doctors and their patients in Britain’s interwar VD service

Abstract

The 1920s witnessed a radical approach to sexual health in Britain, and women doctors quickly capitalized on the opportunities offered by the new VD Service. Because venereology was considered low status, it was among the few interwar specialties that offered footholds to women. In view of the long-standing aversion to female engagement with subjects like venereal disease, the large numbers of women doctors entering the VD Service seems puzzling. But as this article reveals, their clinical work was facilitated by rapid shifts in social and medical attitudes toward the treatment of venereal disease as well as the role of women in public life. By exploring how these women navigated the shifting terrain of interwar public health, it deconstructs the notion that venereology was principally a male sphere of clinical practice and research. Moreover, it presents an important counterpoint to the narrative of women’s bodies subordinated to male medical authority. Although the individual lives of these women remain frustratingly elusive, a prosopographical study of their careers allows us to chart their professional networks and clinical activities. We can see how they appropriated prevailing moral codes and styled themselves as guardians of the nation’s health. At its heart, this article demonstrates how women established identities within a profession that remained inherently masculine. Moreover, it opens up new perspectives on the provision of care and the gendered politics of sexual health in a period of profound economic and social change.