How Did Labor Laws Affect The Victorian Era

From labor laws to pornography, the foundation of American society was inspired by the Victorian era, and still is reflected in the culture today. Most people do not realize that twenty first century America is very much a shadow of the Victorian era. Numerous health and sanitization laws were passed to protect the general wellness of the people, and several laws were approved to provide safety for those working in factories and other risky occupations. Inventions and innovative ideas created by everyday men paved the way to items people have now, such as tourism and other technology. Although the comforts and luxuries in today’s world are much more plentiful, the inspiration and ideologies came from the nineteenth century. Victorian era

With both sides enjoying casual relations, and often some having several relationships with others, this leads to a spread of sexually transmitted infections or disease. It is estimated that around 80% of adults in the United States contract oral herpes and 820,000 each year are diagnosed with gonorrhea. Venereal disease was also an endemic in Victorian era society, with more than 50% of all people in England contracting gonorrhea in their lifetime. The great amounts of infected in England lead to regulations for prostitution and people that contracted venereal diseases. “Lock hospitals” were produced in order to treat women who contracted any STDs or STIs, and women who refused examination by medical surgeons could be forced into strenuous labor or imprisoned. Today there is Planned Parenthood (which gives STD testing for free or reduced cost), and laws making prostitution illegal. If someone is caught participating in prostitution, they will be fined and imprisoned. To say that people of the Victorian era were prudes is a misnomer because secretly they were discovering ways to pleasure themselves. The only difference today is that people are more comfortable proclaiming their private matters to the public

The laws ratified by the U.S government today are very similar to the ones in the Victorian era, even the uncomfortable ones, such as prostitution. Health and sanitization were key necessities in the Victorian era, just as how they are focused on now. People were more open to pleasure and sexual indulgences, similarly to how many people today enjoy pleasures of the flesh. The smoking habits are also very much the same as they were back then. The Victorian era set the stage for other countries to follow in their social, technological, and political aspects of society. Twenty-first century America is not made from anything new, nor is there anything new under the sun. The United States is just a transcended version of the nineteenth century in all aspects. America today is the shadow of the Victorian era, showing that “the Victorian period is one of great influence… [and] its influence is great and will continually be felt for generations to come” (Rachel Gates, The Victorian Era Influence on Modern