levo

Protest, Agitation and Parliamentary Reform in Britain, c1780–1928

The Acts’ impact on prostitutes and ordinary women

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Recall questions on compulsory examination and detention, why it was called instrumental rape, the effect on all working-class women, and the case of Mrs Percy.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

How did the Acts affect working-class women generally?

Who and when

Did the Acts reduce venereal disease?

Who and when

How did the Acts affect women's ability to leave prostitution?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the Acts affect prostitutes and ordinary women?

    Model answer

    They subjected suspected women to humiliating compulsory examination and detention while punishing women but not their male clients, entrenching a sexual double standard.

  2. 2

    How did the Acts affect women identified as prostitutes?

    Model answer

    They faced compulsory internal examination, detention in a lock hospital for up to nine months, and a police record that made other work impossible to obtain.

  3. 3

    Why were the examinations described as instrumental rape?

    Model answer

    Because they were compulsory, intrusive and performed on women who had not been convicted of anything, which the campaigners argued was assault under state authority.

  4. 4

    How did the Acts affect working-class women generally?

    Model answer

    Any woman out alone in a garrison town could be accused, so the Acts placed all poor women under suspicion and restricted their freedom of movement.

  5. 5

    What happened to women wrongly identified?

    Model answer

    They had to prove their respectability or submit; the death of Mrs Percy, who killed herself after being accused, became a cause celebre for the campaign.

  6. 6

    Did the Acts reduce venereal disease?

    Model answer

    Rates in the regulated districts did fall somewhat, but the campaigners argued this reflected under-recording and that the moral cost was unacceptable.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Protest, Agitation and Parliamentary Reform in Britain, c1780–1928, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.