[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 21/Jan/2024]
Recently we were asked in church which famous person we would most like to meet. I said Josephine Butler, whom most people have never heard of but I see as my greatest role model, after Jesus.
Josephine and her husband George, a clergyman, lived in Victorian times. Like Jesus, both of them cared deeply for those on the margins of society. Josephine visited women in the local workhouse and actually sat down and picked oakum with them, even though it was horrible work that took the skin off your fingers. As they worked together, they became friends and she was able to share the gospel with them.
Josephine and her husband cared for a number of so-called fallen women in their own home, including a prostitute dying of consumption and venereal disease. On her arrival, instead of sneaking her in by the servant’s entrance they took her to the front door and George escorted her up the steps. Following the example of Jesus, George treated this most despised woman with dignity and honour.
Josephine was particularly outraged by the double standards of Victorian society that branded women as “fallen”, while men were excused their moral lapses. In 1864 the Contagious Diseases Act was passed, which gave police the right to arrest any woman, on the mere suspicion that she might be a prostitute and subject her to a brutal physical examination. With the full support of her husband and sons, even though they knew that their careers would suffer and that they would be a laughing stock, Josephine campaigned to abolish this law. During her campaign, Josephine faced insults, extreme hostility and death threats. Just as Jesus had found, mixing with outcasts, exposing hypocrisy and challenging the authorities aroused fierce hatred. Society was outraged that she was talking about things that a lady should not even know exist, but she carried on for 17 years until at last the law was repealed.
Josephine also joined the campaign for the raising of the age of consent from 13 to 16, to protect young girls who were being forced or tricked into prostitution.
I see Josephine Butler as a great feminist in the best sense, not fighting for her own rights but helping her less fortunate sisters, speaking up for them and treating them with compassion and honour, just as Jesus did.
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Last week’s reflection: Let’s Talk To Jesus by Dazz Jones
Contributed by Helen Ruffhead; © Helen Ruffhead