Part of the struggle collided with medical knowledge and practices of the time. Prostitutes during this time greatly contributed to the spread of sexual diseases. Because the prostitutes were largely governed by the police, the prostitutes had to undergo frequent medical checkups to monitor venereal diseases, namely syphilis. If they were found to have contracted a disease, they would undergo treatment in a hospital for an extended period of time. If the prostitutes failed to go to their medical checkups, it would result in forced attendance to a correctional facility designed to “cure” these womyn of whatever disease they may have had.
In the traditional Russian fashion, every part of Russian life that could be regulated by the state was. The medical field was not exempt from this. The medical community also underwent scrutiny from the state during the turn of the century. During this time in Russian, syphilis was rampant. The doctors of the time believed that syphilis was not exclusively a venereal disease. Russian doctors believed that people could contract syphilis through mere physical contact, even hugs. They also believed that syphilis could be contracted if one lived in an area
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These doctors thought that sex and sexuality were becoming too commercialized. The doctors informed people that womyn in rural areas of Russia did not suffer from syphilis as much because they lived in “better” moral communities. These doctors believed that conservative patriarchal communities were morally superior and had a greater immunity to the spread of syphilis. The medical community also decided that people were more susceptible to contracting syphilis if they lived in an urban community with prostitutes. These doctors thought that people could contract syphilis by association. This idea eventually evolved into people believing that prostitutes were the sole cause of syphilis in urban