Kink and the Colony: Sexual Deviance in the Medical History of South Africa, c. 1893-1939

Abstract

From the late 19th century onwards, in keeping with the rise of modern medical specialisations, sex was established as a legitimate subject of scientific enquiry. Public interest in sexual health at the Cape was fuelled in part by the panic about epidemics of venereal disease in the wake of the South African War. Local doctors presented sex as a conduit for biological contagion and moral dissolution. Deviant sexuality, in its many manifestations, was unmasked as a source of grave public anxiety and political concern. Sexual defects among children - manifested both corporeally and behaviourally - attracted particular attention among doctors and health officials at the Cape. As exemplars of innocence and purity, and as heirs of colonial power, the health and moral rectitude of white children in the colony was of crucial importance. This article explores the history of sexual deviance at the Cape colony, and later the Union of South Africa. It traces how medical interpretations of...