Venereal disease

“On the issue of [chemical] prophylaxis the alliance of reformers committed to a strict moral order and those committed to a technocratic order came unhinged. The military imperative of efficiency dictated that prophylaxis become the centerpiece of the Medical Department’s antivenereal campaign, scientific exigencies dismissing moral claims (Brandt, 113). . . . Although chemical prophylaxis was hardly acceptable to many members of the social hygiene movement, the provision of [self-administered] packets to the men seemed to be the straw which broke the moralists’ backs. . . . The battle against prophylaxis was, for the duration of the war a lost cause. The demands for an efficient military force were too intense, and faith in the ability of soldiers to refrain from sexual contacts did not run high among military officers, in spite of their official pronouncements . . . Only an estimated 30 percent of the men who fought in France maintained the officially prescribed continence while overseas. . . . Without exception, medical officers attributed their ability to control sexually transmitted diseases to the prophylactic stations” (114-115; also 120-121).