The Historical Reality of Prostitutes Cantonments: Origins, Function, and Abolition

What Was a Prostitutes Cantonment?

Featured Snippet: A prostitutes cantonment was a designated area within a military camp where prostitution was legally regulated, primarily established by colonial powers in the 19th century to control venereal disease among soldiers and maintain order. These zones operated under strict military supervision with enforced health checks.

These cantonments emerged as institutional solutions to “manage” sex work near army barracks, particularly during British colonial rule in India. Soldiers would visit these segregated districts during off-duty hours, with access controlled through permits or registration systems. The setup reflected colonial attitudes toward both women’s bodies and military discipline—treating prostitution as a necessary evil requiring containment rather than addressing its root causes like poverty or gender inequality. Historical records show these areas were often situated on the outskirts of main camps, creating invisible boundaries between “respectable” society and marginalized communities.

Why Were Prostitutes Cantonments Created?

Featured Snippet: Military authorities created cantonments for prostitutes to control the spread of venereal diseases among soldiers, reduce instances of rape and disorder, and manage the sex trade in a regulated environment. This stemmed from colonial-era beliefs that prostitution was inevitable near army bases.

The primary justification was medical: British Army reports from the 1800s blamed soldiers’ STD infections on unregulated sex work, arguing cantonments would enable mandatory gynecological exams. Commanders also claimed these zones prevented sexual violence against civilian women in nearby villages—though critics noted this simply shifted exploitation to impoverished women within the system. Economically, cantonments allowed taxation of brothels while ensuring soldiers’ pay circulated back into military-controlled economies. The Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s formalized this approach, requiring sex workers in garrison towns to register and undergo invasive examinations.

Did Colonial Attitudes Influence Cantonment Policies?

Featured Snippet: Yes, colonial rulers viewed local populations through racist and sexist lenses, assuming prostitution was intrinsic to “native culture” while ignoring European soldiers’ role in driving demand.

British officials often depicted Indian women as inherently promiscuous to justify regulation. Medical manuals from the era reveal disturbing pseudoscience claiming Asian women carried “weaker strains” of disease. Meanwhile, no parallel systems existed near bases in England—highlighting the racial double standard. Feminist reformers like Josephine Butler later condemned this as state-sanctioned exploitation, arguing that forced pelvic exams constituted institutional rape. The system also reinforced class divides: officers typically visited elite brothels outside cantonments, while enlisted men used regulated facilities.

How Did Prostitutes Cantonments Operate?

Featured Snippet: Cantonments operated through strict military oversight: sex workers were registered, confined to specific zones, subjected to weekly health checks, and punished for non-compliance. Brothel keepers paid licensing fees to operate within designated areas.

Women entering cantonments faced dehumanizing procedures. They received numbered registration cards and were required to live in approved lodgings. Lock hospitals (VD treatment facilities) conducted compulsory “inspections” using unsterilized equipment, often spreading infections. If diagnosed with disease, women were detained indefinitely in squalid hospital wards—sometimes while soldiers faced no consequences. Daily life involved curfews, movement restrictions, and constant police surveillance. Ironically, these controls made escape nearly impossible, trapping women in cycles of debt and exploitation.

What Were the Health Impacts of Regulation?

Featured Snippet: Despite claims of disease control, cantonments often increased infection rates due to shared medical instruments, false security leading to unprotected sex, and underreporting by soldiers afraid of punishment.

Military medical logs show syphilis rates increased by 17% in regulated Indian cantonments between 1865-1875. The flawed system focused exclusively on women’s health while ignoring infected soldiers who continued visiting brothels. Crude examinations used speculums without disinfection, transmitting infections between women. When British nurse Florence Nightingale analyzed data, she proved regulated zones had higher VD rates than areas without cantonments. This evidence became pivotal for abolitionists arguing that regulation backfired medically while enabling abuse.

What Was Life Like for Women in Cantonments?

Featured Snippet: Women in cantonments endured violence, debt bondage, and social isolation. Most were impoverished locals or trafficked individuals with no alternative income, facing stigma that persisted long after abolition.

Oral histories from Indian survivors describe brutal conditions: brothel keepers confiscated earnings to cover “room and board,” trapping women in perpetual debt. Military police routinely extorted bribes or sexual favors. Pregnancies resulted in forced abortions or abandoned children. Escape attempts led to beatings or imprisonment on vagrancy charges. Unlike civilian sex workers, cantonment women couldn’t refuse clients or negotiate terms—soldiers wielded institutional power over them. After abolition, many faced homelessness, with society shunning them as “corrupt” rather than recognizing their victimhood.

When and Why Were Prostitutes Cantonments Abolished?

Featured Snippet: Major cantonment systems were dismantled between 1886-1920 due to pressure from feminist movements, evidence of their medical failure, and shifting social values. The campaign exposed how regulation perpetuated exploitation.

The abolition movement gained momentum when activists like Butler publicized horror stories: in one 1883 case, 13-year-old girls were registered in Lahore cantonment. International outrage followed revelations that British laws enabled child prostitution in colonies while banning it domestically. Medical authorities finally admitted regulation didn’t curb disease—it normalized risky behavior. By WWI, military leaders shifted focus to “moral education” for soldiers instead. India’s cantonments officially closed in 1888 after decades of activism, though clandestine operations persisted until independence movements dismantled colonial structures.

How Did Abolition Movements Succeed?

Featured Snippet: Abolition succeeded through transnational alliances between suffragists, religious groups, and Indian nationalists who reframed cantonments as human rights violations rather than health measures.

Strategically, activists bypassed military authorities by appealing directly to Parliament. They collected testimonies from cantonment women (often anonymously) and partnered with Indian reformers who linked abolition to anti-colonial struggles. Petitions with 2 million signatures forced debates in the House of Commons. Crucially, they highlighted soldiers’ complicity—countering the narrative that women were sole “disease vectors.” Their victory proved grassroots campaigns could challenge imperial policies, inspiring later feminist movements against state-regulated prostitution globally.

What Is the Legacy of Prostitutes Cantonments Today?

Featured Snippet: Cantonments left a legacy of trauma for descendants of affected women, influenced modern debates about legalized prostitution, and serve as cautionary tales about institutionalizing exploitation under public health pretexts.

Contemporary red-light districts in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata trace their origins to displaced cantonment workers. The system’s racial dynamics echo in today’s sex tourism industries where Western clients exploit Global South women. Modern “legal brothel zones” still face criticisms mirroring abolitionist arguments—that regulation prioritizes control over consent. Historians note cantonments established patterns of police corruption still seen in vice squads. Yet survivor stories also fuel activism: organizations like Apne Aap Women Worldwide empower descendants of cantonment women to break cycles of intergenerational exploitation through education and legal advocacy.

How Should Society Remember These Histories?

Featured Snippet: Remembering cantonments requires centering victims’ experiences, acknowledging systemic failures, and applying lessons to combat human trafficking today. Their stories are integral to understanding colonial violence and gender oppression.

Memorials like Kolkata’s Nari Memorial honor unnamed cantonment women erased from official records. Scholars emphasize that sanitized terms like “regulated vice” obscure the brutality inflicted on marginalized women. Modern parallels exist in migrant detention centers and prison labor systems—institutions that similarly profit from controlling bodies. By examining cantonments through intersectional lenses, we recognize how military, economic, and patriarchal powers converged to commodify human beings. This awareness informs current movements demanding accountability for institutional abuse, proving history’s uncomfortable truths remain urgently relevant.