April 15, 2024 ~ Monday in Eastertide, Week 3
Josephine Butler [1828-1906] *
"God
and one woman
make a
majority."
*An extraordinary
woman in her time and ours, Mrs. Butler wrote more than 90 books and pamphlets
relating to her various causes and also biographies of her father, her husband,
and, St. Catherine of Siena. BUT SO MUCH MORE! It is well past time for her to be known much
farther afield as her influence continues to this day.
A feminist from an
early age, Josephine Butler became more involved in serious social issues
about women after being devastated by the death of her 6 year old daughter.
Early on she was co-founder of the North of England Council for Promoting
the Higher Education of Women and, as a dedicated and committed Christian
married to a Church of England clergyman, she also became a resolute advocate
for the welfare of prostitutes. She believed that the double standard of sexual
morality led to the exploitation of women and girls with no consequences for
men.
Josephine was tireless in her efforts to
have the terrible Contagious Disease Acts** repealed and
was further helped in this effort by Florence Soper Booth, daughter of the
founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth; and the influential editor
of The Pall Mall Gazette, William Thomas Stead. Stead had revealed
an appalling ease of purchasing girls as young as 13 for sex and trafficking.
The Acts were intended to thwart the spread of venereal
diseases yet only women were being victimized by the requirements which
often led to their imprisonment if infected, but men were not. In a public
meeting she referred to some of the practices authorized by the Acts,
such as humiliating physical examinations by police, as "surgical
rape" ~ a shocking remark that resulted in her desired outcome when the Acts
were repealed in England, Ireland, and British Raj India. Josephine also
successfully undertook the effort to have the age of sexual consent raised from
13 to 16 to reduce child prostitution.
At a time when women didn't have the right
to vote, Mrs. Butler's efforts were compelling and considerable. Honored on the
Church of England Calendar of Lesser Festivals, she is also portrayed in a
window in the Anglican Cathedral of Liverpool [see above image]
with Queen Victoria and other notable women of the time. A
College at the University of Durham is named for her and she has been
remembered and honored in many other ways and places in England.
**The Contagious Disease Acts: https://hist259.web.unc.edu/contagious-diseases-acts-1864-1866-and-1869/
God of All Women, All Men ~ All Human Beings, God of
Earth and God of Heaven, God of all that is ~ Seen and Unseen,
Your Servant Josephine led the way in her own time to courageously
and relentlessly advocate on behalf of women and girls as fully human persons.
From campaigning for higher education, pushing legislation to increase the age
of sexual consent, and to succeed in having laws repealed that diminished and
exploited girls and women, especially those engaging in prostitution, Mrs. Butler was a
force beyond our comprehension for her time. Help us realize that we must
continue her valiant efforts. Let us not avert our eyes to the very real, very
prevalent issues of sexual violence and exploitation of all human beings in our own
times ~ in the worst parts of the world and in the nicest parts of our
comfortable lives. Rape as a political weapon, human trafficking for greed and
lust, random gun violence, domestic violence, racial and gender identity
violence, female genital mutilation, child pornography and prostitution ~ all and
more are symptoms of a dissolving social ethic that only benefits the few who
have power, and all thrive when we, the "good people" look away.
Help us, Lord, to do the work You have given
us to do and actively see to it that all Your children are safe and
genuinely loved. amen.
