Reproducing a Sexually Hygienic Nation: Sexology, Venereal Disease, and Eugenics in Interwar India

There was a substantial shift in the management of prostitution as well as the treatment of venereal disease (VD) in India during the inter-war period. This paper will show how VD emerged as a public health issue in India between the 1910s and 1940s, whose relevance extended beyond the confines of military cantonments and the bodies of prostitutes. Since the late 1910s, the British colonial state attempted to eradicate brothels, which had been allowed to survive in particular “red-light districts” even after the repeal of the Contagious Disease Acts in 1888. Moreover, the development of the germ theory meant that diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea came to be diagnosed through serological examination and salvarsan became a readily available treatment. My paper will argue that the growth and popularization of a regime of personal and bodily hygiene through the multiple and overlapping discourses of sexology, social hygiene, and eugenics was responsible for the repression of prostitution as well as the emergence of VD as a wider-public health issue. I will demonstrate how popular Indian sexology manuals mobilized a model of sexual health which included prescriptions on diet and exercise, advice on refraining from sex with prostitutes together with prevention and treatment of VD. Such a model was not only aimed at bettering induvial sexual health but also fulfilled the eugenic vision of reproducing a future race of fit Indians. Besides Indian sexologists, organizations like the British Social Hygiene Council (BSHC), as well as the League of Nations (LN), were also active in coordinating anti-VD campaigns like disseminating sex education and broadcasting educational films in various Indian provinces. My paper will be based on an examination of sexology and eugenic publications in Hindi, Bengali, and English as well as the official archives of the BSHC, LN, and the British colonial state.