Paying the price.

The role of the army in maintaining the British Empire led to widespread prostitution in India and East Africa. This programme surveys the attitude of the British Army to the subsequent spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the measures adopted to prevent venereal disease from undermining the Army's fighting strength. The story is an unsavoury one of a rapacious ruling class getting away with corruption, inimidation, victimisation and racialism under the pretext of sexual "hygiene". Prostitution and venereal disease were endemic in the former British Empire. In India and Africa British soldiers and civilians found commercial sex widely available at very little cost. By 1896, it was estimated that in the South African goldfields there was one white prostitute for every 50 men. In Kenya in 1923, there were 200 known prostitutes operating in Nairobi alone. From the earliest days of empire fear of venereal disease was widespread among both Army and Navy personnel. But the military authorities were usually reluctant to discuss the matter openly, as is seen in the 1944 public information film 'A Subject for Discussion' [excerpt]. Instead of trying to find a cure or limit the prevalence of the disease through education, efforts were concentrated on restricting prostitutes' freedom of movement and practice.