The First Resort: Pamphleteering and Politics in Early Modern Britain
This talk by Prof Joad Raymond is first in the series Writing Wrongs, curated by Deborah Lavin as part of the Heritage Lottery funded project Victorian Blogging. Before printing, governments got their message out from the church pulpit. Maverick, alternative ideas were only spread with difficulty by word of mouth. There were riots when times were bad, but no […]
They Always Blame the Woman! Syphilis and Fallen Women 1495-1945
This talk by Dr Kevin Brown is second in the series Prostitution, Pimping and Trafficking, curated by Deborah Lavin. From the time syphilis was first recognised in 1485, the medical consensus believed women were the vector of infection; and that they suffered syphilis in a milder form than men. While symptoms were treated, prevention centred on controlling prostitution. […]
Josephine Butler and the “Ladies Campaign” against the Contagious Diseases Acts
This talk by Dr Jane Jordan is third in the series Prostitution, Pimping and Trafficking, curated by Deborah Lavin. When in 1869 the British Government extended the scope of the 1864 and 1866 Contagious Diseases Acts, which sought to prevent the spread of syphilis in the Army and Navy by forcibly examining women ‘suspected of being […]
From “Yellow Ticket” to “Bourgeois Evil”, Prostitution in Russia 1900-1930
This talk by Dr Siobhán Hearne is fifth in the series Prostitution, Pimping and Trafficking, curated by Deborah Lavin. Prostitution flourished in Russia amidst the social, political and economic turbulence of the early twentieth century. Thousands of women sold sex in the Russian Empire’s rapidly expanding towns and cities in the early 1900s. Many registered their details with […]
White Slaves to “Hard Girls”, Increasing Criminalisation and its Consequences 1885-1960
NOTICE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and are issuing full refunds. This has not affected the last two talks in the Prostitution, Pimping and Trafficking series, which you can still purchase tickets for. This talk by Dr Julia Laite is fourth […]
ONE LIFE: A FREE CONCERT CELEBRATING THE ONE LIFE THAT WE HAVE
The London Humanist Choir presents ONE LIFE, our annual evening of music and comedy ‘in celebration of the one life we have’. It’s the climax to a busy year of rehearsals and concerts by the UK’s foremost community atheist, humanist, and secular choir. This year’s guests include: Guardian journalist, stand-up, and singer-songwriter Ariane Sherine, noted […]
Contemporary Prostitution, Politics and Policy
This talk by Professor Roger Matthews is sixth in the series Prostitution, Pimping and Trafficking, curated by Deborah Lavin. Although there have been considerable policy shifts in recent years, in the area of prostitution, opinion is very divided. On one hand, the adoption of the Nordic Model by abolitionists in the UK calls for the criminalisation of those […]
Annie Besant and the Liberal, Radical, Socialist and Feminist Opposition to Birth Control in the 19th Century
This talk by Deborah Lavin is fifth in the series Writing Wrongs, curated by Deborah Lavin as part of the Heritage Lottery funded project Victorian Blogging. The story of birth control is usually told as one of almost linear progress against blinkered bigotry. Opposition to contraception may have been blinkered and bigoted, but it was also often liberal, radical, […]
Blasphemy, the Individual and the State: From Historical Flashpoint to Contemporary Grievance
This talk by Prof David Nash is fourth in the series Writing Wrongs, curated by Deborah Lavin as part of the Heritage Lottery funded project Victorian Blogging. After a long battle, lasting well over two hundred years and with many martyrs, the age-old law of Blasphemy was abolished in 2008. It seemed a great victory for the dream of a […]