Analyzing the political culture of the social-democratic Scandinavians, the conservative Germans, and the liberal British, this book charts the interrelation between medicine and sexual morality, and debates the influence of gender, sexuality, and religion on policies geared toward combatting venereal diseases. With in-depth studies of parliamentary discussions covering all of the late 19th and 20th centuries, it answers questions such as How much attention did national legislation pay to medical opinions? How did governments in five Northern European countries act to restrain the spread of venereal disease? and How did legislation in Scandinavian countries differ from German and British legislation? Thorough and informative, this examination will especially interest historians, sociologists, social anthropologists, ethnologists, and medical researchers.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART I - DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS IN SCANDINAVIA
  • CHAPTER 1 - The European background
    • From syphilis to HIV/AIDS
    • Medicine, morality, and sexuality
    • Liberal British Policies
    • Germany–controlling the individual
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER 2 - A ‘Scandinavian Sonderweg ’?
    • Sweden–from regulation to ‘Scandinavian Sonderweg’
    • The run-up to the Danish law of 1906
    • Opposition to regulation
    • Equal rights, equal duties?
    • Physicians’ duties, advertising–and defeat
    • From ‘Scandinavian Sonderweg ’ to welfare state?
  • CHAPTER 3 - From coercion to voluntary expedients?
    • Nineteenth-century changes in Norwegian municipal policies
    • Opposition to regulationism
    • A new system in Oslo in 1888
    • The new system in action
    • Conclusion
• PART II - A ‘SCANDINAVIAN SONDERWEG’
  • CHAPTER 4 - Separating prostitution from disease?
    • The inter-war period–an interlude
    • The 1947 law on VD
    • Centralisation, contact tracing, and expert treatment
    • Protecting whom?
    • Information campaigns–a new measure?
    • Changing political attitudes
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER 5 - Norway–the long road to national legislation
    • Attempts at a national law on VD
    • Wartime and post-war experience
    • Protecting soldiers–drafting the law of 1947
    • Passing a law on VD
    • Legal wording and everyday reality
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER 6 - National variations, international differences
    • Why different trajectories?
    • Scandinavia–a special case?
    • Scandinavian and German similarities
    • Differences between Scandinavia and Germany
    • The British exception
    • Conclusion
• PART III - ABOLISHING SPECIAL LEGISLATION ON VENEREAL DISEASE
  • CHAPTER 7 - From syphilis to HIV/AIDS
    • The golden age of welfare
    • Sweden–pioneering legislative changes
    • Denmark–farewell to coercion
    • Denmark–abolishing special VD legislation
    • Norway–from constraint to individual choice?
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER 8 - Path dependence or reform capability
    • Path dependence and policies towards new risk groups
    • Reform capability
    • Important differences?
    • British path dependence
    • German reform capability
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER 9 - Conclusion
    • Medicine and morality entwined
    • Changing VD legislation
    • Changing political culture
• Notes
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Bibliography
• About the author