A Sunday Salon with the book's author Helen Mathers and historian of sexuality Jana Funke. Victorian feminist Josephine Butler campaigned against laws that abused prostitutes. She helped women and girls affected by trafficking and sexual abuse. Her campaigns mesh with those in Manchester at the time, particularly the women's suffrage campaign.

Josephine Butler (1828-1906) was a Victorian feminist and campaigner against laws, both in Britain and abroad, which abused prostitutes.  She also helped women and girls affected by trafficking and sexual abuse.  She signed the first women’s suffrage petition in 1866 and came to Manchester to visit leaders of the movement, especially Elizabeth Wolstenholme and Lydia Becker, becoming their close associate.  Butler’s work with prostitutes took place initially in Liverpool, where she lived from 1866-1882. She herself was brought up in Northumberland and her father John Grey was strongly committed to the anti-slavery movement. 

Helen Mathers, author of Patron Saint of Prostitutes. Josephine Butler and a Victorian Scandal will discuss her research and the life of Butler, a true Wonder Women.

Sponsored by The Wellcome Trust as part of the Sexology Season and part of Wonder Women Radical Manchester

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