Josephine E. Butler's invocation of the analogy of American slavery and the contemporary struggle for abolition was a powerful and significant trope in the ‘feminist’ rhetoric pushing for repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in Victorian England. As the charismatic leader of the Ladies National Association (LNA), Butler was the dominant ‘first voice’ in a group of feminist reformers who targeted the issue of prostitution by publishing numerous addresses, pamphlets, and periodicals. Although the repeal movement included members of both sexes, the LNA was a distinctive force with a distinctive rhetoric. As women they broke new ground in their public campaigning on sexual matters. In their calls for an equal standard of sexual morality they focused exclusively on the position of women in the gendered framework of Victorian society, contributing to what has come to be called ‘first wave feminism’.