Blame for the Diseases' Spread

     The blame for venereal diseases spread was put on women. It was even believed by Medical Doctors at the time that men were not responsible for the rapid spreading of the disease because women’s wombs were dry and dense making it impossible for them to contract the disease unless exposed many times.(7) Men were not arrested and quarantined for having “loose morals” at the same rate that women were.(8) They were not mistrusted or scrutinized for being in casual relationships or having sex like women were. Posters and propaganda also reflected this blame. 

What about Minorities?     

     Like white females, black women were arrested and placed in the venereal treatment centers and blamed for the spread of venereal transmitted diseases. However, black women were treated more harshly than white women. Black and white patients were segregated in the venereal treatment centers.(9) There were experiments done on the manifestation of Syphilis testing black males. The conclusions drawn from these experiments were that all black males had bad blood leading, or poison in their blood, as the result of being black.(10) This furthered racism and influenced how all black Americans were treated. Although this was later proven inaccurate, the belief of blood leading influenced the way black females were treated. They suffered from discrimination because of their skin color as well as their gender.