Subj : Sexual health pioneer honoured with painting at Parliament
To   : All
From : News
Date : Thu Apr 11 2024 12:19 pm

A pioneering sexual health activist dubbed the "guardian of the ANZACs" has
been officially honoured with a painting unveiled at Parliament today.


Ettie Rout argued that venereal diseases were a medical issue - not a moral
one.


It led to the military providing sexual health kits for soldiers.


Returned Services Association (RSA) remembrance committee chairman Mark
Compain said Rout was seen as a "pariah" and was "publicly shamed" when she
began her campaign at the outbreak of the first World War.


New Zealand Remembrance Army managing director Simon Strombom said most New
Zealanders were unaware of her contributions to sexual health.


"She's probably one of the greatest women of her era," he said.


'Brilliant on the battlefield - not as well behaved off it'
In 1916, sexually transmitted infections affected one in five of all
Commonwealth troops admitted to hospitals on the Western Front.


Strombom said most New Zealanders at the time tried to ignore the issue.


"Our troops were brilliant on the battlefield, not as well-behaved off it -
and it was a high rate," he said.


Rout's solution was to provide kits for soldiers containing condoms,
ointment, and disinfectant.


While troops loved her, those on the homefront believed her work was linked
to declining morals.


"It was a challenge for the military forces who also had to manage opinions
back home of the mothers, the fathers, the daughters," Compain explained.


"The New Zealand government had to walk a very fine line between overt
support which would've meant an outcry back here in New Zealand."


That meant the government banned her books on sexual health and issued a
decree that newspapers would be fined for publishing her name.


More than a century on, Rout's legacy has been honoured with a painting
unveiled at Parliament. The work of art will hang in the halls of the Beehive.


Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote to the Rout family, saying she
deserved her place - given her actions resulted in such a change to routine
public health measures.


"The walls of Parliament play host to the portraits of many significant New
Zealand leaders," Luxon wrote.


A guardian angel to our troops
"I am pleased to see Ettie Rout take her place among them today."


Rout's niece, Becky Rout, was at Parliament for the unveiling and said she
would like records of her aunt's reputed "wickedness" expunged.


"I think the word 'wicked' should be wiped from any history and 'guardian
angel' certainly is the one that should be given to Ettie," she said.

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