The War On Women: The Chamberlain-Kahn Act of 1918

I am not shocked nowadays very often by things I read or hear about, but I was pretty shocked last night while watching a H2 History Channel show on demand titled - "How Sex Changed the World: Sex and War".

I was shocked both by the fact that I had never heard of the Chamberlain-Kahn Act and also by the fact that our government (men) passed this Act and actually did what they did to women in 1918.

In the Sex in War episode it was stated that women were rounded up, arrested, and could be held indefinitely based only on a ‘suspicion’ that they ‘might’ have a venereal disease.

Even women that were not prostitutes were arrested and indefinitely detained - if I remember correctly they said that over a total of 100,000 women had been rounded up and detained.
Women that drank too much alcohol could be arrested and held indefinitely.
Women that might be just walking down the street if they were deemed to be ‘inappropriate’ they could be arrested and also held indefinitely.
They said that MANY of the women that were detained had no signs of having a venereal disease but they also were forced to undergo treatment (injections of mercury) and were not released for many months.

If you get a chance to watch the episode I recommend doing so.
On my cable it’s available now on demand in the H2 section.
The H2 channel will also be re-airing the episode: Sex & War - Thursday, Jun 27, 10/9c