Ettie Rout is most commonly associated in the public mind with what her generation saw as a scandalous approach to the use of contraception by our troops in wartime. In fact her work was much broader than this and was principally concerned with preventative health therapies in a pre-penicillin age confronting a venereal disease epidemic and the effect this had on the health of women, particularly in marriage. Beyond that she was also a pioneer of therapeutic exercise.