a politician and the father of Henriette, arrives at the hospital to confront the doctor who had initially diagnosed Dupont. Loche wishes to effect a divorce, and asks the doctor to sign a statement attesting to Dupont's syphilis diagnosis. The doctor declines, citing doctor-patient confidentiality. Loche despairs that there ought to be a law mandating medical examination before marriage. The doctor disagrees, complaining that "there are too many [laws] already". Instead, the doctor suggests a need for more education and open discussion of sexually transmitted diseases, and for an end to the stigmatization of syphilis as a "shameful disease": Syphilis must cease to be treated like a mysterious evil, the very name of which cannot be pronounced.... People ought to be taught that there is nothing immoral in the act that reproduces life by means of love. But for the benefit of out children we organize round about it a gigantic conspiracy of silence. A respectable man will take his son and daughter to one of these grand music halls, where they will hear things of the most loathsome description; but he won't let them hear a word spoken seriously on the subject of the great act of love. The mystery and humbug in which physical facts are enveloped ought to be swept away and young men be given some pride in the creative power with which each one of us is endowed. Composition and publication history Brieux wrote Les Avariés in 1901. John Pollock translated the play to English in 1905 under the title Damaged Goods. His translation was not published until May 1911 alongside two other translations in the book Three Plays By Brieux. Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote a preface to the book which included praise for Les Avariés: No play ever written was more needed than Les Avariés...Sex is a necessary and healthy instinct; and its nurture and education is one of the most important uses of all art; and, for the present at all events, the chief use of the theatre. The book sold well in the United States and England and went through multiple editions. An English novelization, also titled Damaged Goods, was published by Upton Sinclair in 1913 with the approval of Brieux. The novelization closely follows the play and incorporates most of its dialogue. Production history Brieux was prevented from staging the play in Paris by censors, but was eventually granted