Social Purity (Dodo Press)

Josephine Elizabeth Butler (1828-1906) was a Victorian era English feminist who was especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes. She led the long campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts from 1869 to 1886. Josephine was very active in feminist movements. In 1866 she moved with her family to Liverpool and became involved in the campaign for higher education for women. In 1867 together with Anne Jemima Clough, Josephine was instrumental in establishing the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women. However, she had also been very closely involved with the welfare of prostitutes; as a passionate Christian, she abhorred the sin, but she also regarded the women as being exploited victims of male oppression and she attacked the double standard of sexual morality. Josephine's most famous works include: The Education and Employment of Women (1868), Social Purity (1879), Mrs. Butler's Appeal to the Women of America (1888), The New Godiva (1888), Truth Before Everything (1897) and Native Races and the War (1900).