| A lifetime of campaigning: Ettie Rout, emancipationist beyond the pale. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18210691 Owner: HMD Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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H.G. Wells called her 'that unforgettable heroine'. But she was forgotten, most particularly in New Zealand, where she was banned from mention in the newspapers under the War Regulations for her 'safe sex' work during the First World War - a very hypocritical move as it happened just as her work was officially taken on by the army. For this work she was dubbed the 'guardian angel of the ANZACs' by a French venereal disease specialist and awarded the Reconnaissance Franaise by the French. After the war she settled in London, marrying her long-time friend and wartime colleague, physical culturist Fred Hornibrook. Rout went on with her venereal disease prophylaxis campaign after the war. She also entered the birth control movement in the 1920s, playing a major role in the last big birth control court case, a role often attributed to Dora Russell, while Rout again is 'forgotten'. In her books, like the best selling Safe Marriage, a safe sex guide (which was banned in New Zealand), she encouraged women to own their own bodies and take responsibility for their own sexual health. She linked exercise and sex, arguing in books like Sex and Exercise, that exercise would enhance women's sex lives. She and Hornibrook, who wrote a best-selling book entitled The Culture of the Abdomen, presaging the current obsession with rocklike 'abs', made a pair, teaching fitness techniques, holding 'native dance' evenings, and being hailed as modern dance proponents. Rout also wrote books on vegetarianism, wholemeal cookery and Maori culture. The word most commonly used by people describing her throughout her life was 'energy'. She herself was very fit. But she did not fit in. Once her marriage to Hornibrook was over, in 1936, she returned to New Zealand, was rebuffed by former friends. She sailed for Rarotonga and died there, of a self-administered overdose of quinine that September. As she had remarked to H.G. Wells, 'It is a mixed blessing to be born too soon'. She anticipated many of the enthusiasms of our own time - in diet, in dance, in ideas about exercise and sexuality. But because she was so far ahead of her own time in her 'safe sex' campaign, she became persona non grata in her own country. With the advent of AIDS her contribution snaps into focus - and the AIDS clinic in the city of Christchurch where she used to live has been named after her. |
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Authors:
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J Tolerton |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Historical Article; Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: The International journal of the history of sport Volume: 18 ISSN: 0952-3367 ISO Abbreviation: Int J Hist Sport Publication Date: 2001 |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-01-22 Completed Date: 2008-04-02 Revised Date: 2010-07-09 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 100968205 Medline TA: Int J Hist Sport Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 73-97 Citation Subset: Q |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Access to Information
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legislation & jurisprudence,
psychology Contraception / economics, history, psychology Contraception, Barrier / economics, history, psychology Health Services Accessibility / economics, history, legislation & jurisprudence History, 19th Century History, 20th Century Hygiene / economics, education, history, legislation & jurisprudence Military Hygiene* / economics, education, history, legislation & jurisprudence Military Personnel / education, history, psychology New Zealand / ethnology Physical Education and Training / economics, history Physical Fitness / physiology, psychology Prostitution* / ethnology, history, legislation & jurisprudence, psychology Sex Education / economics, history, legislation & jurisprudence Sexually Transmitted Diseases* / economics, ethnology, history, psychology Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial / economics, ethnology, history, psychology Women / education, history, psychology Women's Health* / economics, ethnology, history, legislation & jurisprudence Women's Rights / economics, education, history, legislation & jurisprudence World War I |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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