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HEALTH

 

Abolition of women's slavery

The confinement of prostitutes, in Pará and the rest of the world, was included in the human rights agenda, as was the abolition of slavery. There were many lawyers filing habeas corpus requests in favor of women who, just by sitting on the sidewalk, were mistaken for prostitutes and ended up getting a card.

This resistance movement began in 1870, in England, where it gained the name “abolitionism”, the same adopted in the United States by groups linked to Protestants. “They said that, after abolishing slavery for men, they would abolish slavery for women”, says professor Sérgio Carrara.

But, at the same time as they defended the end of confinements, abolitionists also demanded an end to prostitution, as they believed that men could also abstain from sex until marriage, just like women. “The campaign involved Protestants, Catholics and feminists and achieved victory in England, which began to create a law against prostitution”, recalls the researcher.

Currently, in the USA, only the state of Nevada considers prostitution to be free; in the rest of the country, whoever sells and whoever pays can go to jail. In Brazil, there was never any regulation of the profession, despite the movement made by doctors in the 19th century. During the republican period, groups of abolitionist doctors, in tune with the English movement, blocked legalization in the country and embarked on educational campaigns. “Instead of treating, educating: an expensive idea even today”, observes Carrara.

Those doctors, however, did not overcome the idea that sex was a primary need for men and, therefore, that education should be directed towards sexual intercourse with contact condoms. Many of them advised the use of disinfectant ointments.

Rhetoric – In the 20s, the inspector general of venereal disease prophylaxis argued that the primary guideline should be for citizens to deprive themselves of sex until marriage. Pure rhetoric: “We need to preach this, otherwise the church won’t let the campaign take to the streets”, whispered the health authority to its peers. “But, the most important thing is that if you can't avoid sex, use this, use that...”, he added in his speech to the public.

There were only men in the images presented at conferences and on posters. The matter could not be discussed in front of women. One of the biggest sponsors of posters in the 30s was the Círculo Brasileiro de Educação Social, a non-governmental organization led by doctor José de Albuquerque. “State action was much smaller than in the previous decade. In this way, NGOs stole the spotlight”, says Carrara.

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The day of sex

In the 30s, and under the command of the Círculo Brasileiro de Educação Social, Rio de Janeiro celebrated Sex Day for five years in a row, a festival that took place on November 20th. “Radio stations called out the population with slogans such as “sex for reproduction, for the nation, for the race”. It had nothing to do with pleasure”, says the researcher.

For the Circle, pleasure in sex was secondary. More important was the calming effect produced by the discharge of the nervous system. Therefore, the use of contact condoms was advocated, as condoms would prevent pleasure. But there were disinfectant ointments. An advertisement from the time showed a female hand, a watch and the can with the product's brand. “The clock because the ointment had to be applied quickly after intercourse”, explains Carrara.

But not everything was a party for the men. In the 20s, when public authorities decided to attack the problem more incisively, a network of dispensaries was set up to cure and prevent venereal diseases. “They were places where men went to wash their genitals after sex, called disinfection stations maintained by the State.”

In this way, the state policy to combat diseases was based on persuasion, education, without authoritarianism. The Brazilian Army had its own tactics: it distributed condoms and maintained disinfection stations at its bases; If a soldier appeared infected and did not have a certificate proving that he had passed through a post, he would lose his pay and be compulsorily hospitalized.

The tactic was condemned by health professionals, as they believed infected men would evade treatment and spread the disease. And treating the disease was already too much of a sacrifice for the moral standards of patients at the time, who were forced to remain in a gynecological position, sometimes in front of three doctors, who examined them as if they were an object.

The clash – “There is a very complex game between the Brazilian state (through doctors) and male power. Male power is interested in the autonomous exercise of sexuality, access to women. That was what such policies needed to focus on to control the disease”, argues Carrara. The professor remembers that prostitution was criticized – except by the Catholic Church, which avoided controversy – and the State needed to intervene.

“Men have to incorporate transcendental principles to guide their sexual practice not just for pleasure, or to have a language among their peers. They have to think about the species, the race, the nation, the new national values.” In other words, to this day, with the advent of AIDS, men continue to struggle with doctors and state power, subjected to values ​​that transcend the universe of masculinity.

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