Much harm has been done in the past by the
action of Benefit Societies in withholding recognition and treatment from
venereal disease.
It is evident that this thought was at the back of the minds of those
who framed these wise recommendations. We cannot expect to do away all
at once with the feeling that venereal disease is "shameful." It may
not even be desirable. But we can at least make clear that, in so far
as there is any shame, it must be a question between the individual and
his own conscience. From the point of view of science, syphilis and
gonorrhoea are just diseases, like cancer and consumption, the only
diseases with which they can be compared in the magnitude and extent of
their results, and therefore it is best to speak of them by their
scientific names, instead of trying to invent vague and awkward
circumlocutions. From the point of view of society, any attitude of
shame is unfortunate, because it is absolutely essential that these
diseases should be met in the open and grappled with methodically and
thoroughly. Otherwise, as the Commission recognises, the sufferer is
apt to become the prey of ignorant quacks whose inefficient treatment
is largely responsible for the development of the latest and worst
afflictions these diseases produce when not effectually nipped in the
bud. That they can be thus cut short--far more easily than consumption,
to say nothing of cancer--is the fact which makes it possible to hope
for a conquest over venereal disease.
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