Regulation 40D: Punishing Promiscuity on the Home Front during the First World War

In 1918, the British War Office introduced Regulation 40D as an amendment to the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA). The short-lived regulation allowed the state to remand and imprison a woman for the transmission of venereal disease to a member of His Majesty's armed forces. This paper examines discourses on national security and female promiscuity surrounding the enactment of Regulation 40D and the prosecutions under this controversial measure. The paper argues that the regulation was merely symbolic, and that it empowered magistrates to assess, judge and ultimately control women's sexual behaviour in the name of national security.