Title: Woman's body, woman's right. Birth control in America. Revised and updated.

POPLINE Document Number: 104158

Author(s):

Gordon L

Source citation:

New York, New York, Penguin Books, 1990. xxii, 570 p.

Abstract:

This second edition updates the original 1976 published book on the social history of birth control in the United States. The original chapter 13 on population control was revised. New chapters 14, 15, and 16 were added in order to present a discussion of the feminist reproduction control movement of the 1960s and 1970s and abortion rights, contraceptive safety, and women's rights. New material included coverage of the 1980s issues of teenage pregnancy and political divisions about reproduction control. The distinction between new contemporary issues and continuity with past reproduction control politics is made. The book describes new feminist theories and political developments. Chapters are organized into units on the politics of reproduction, the empowerment of women, and the shift from women's rights to family planning. Reference is made to the seminal work of Rosalind Pollack Petchesky on Abortion and Women's Choice, which is considered a more sophisticated interpretation of early 1980s reproduction control politics. Importance is attached to the view that a social problem is constructed through the language used in the discourse. Different historical periods are viewed as having socially and politically constituted meanings of reproduction control. The US history of reproductive control reflects increased use of contraception and abortion during the nineteenth century and increased campaigning by the medical establishment against abortion. During the 1920s and 1930s the condom and male withdrawal were the most popular methods, while in the nineteenth century douching was popular. The Comstock Law of 1873 defined all contraceptive devices as obscene. Advertisements used the euphemism of "French Remedies and Goods" for selling pessaries. There was evidence of class bias in the availability of contraception, but the roots of the women's birth control movement crossed class lines in women's desire for spaced motherhood and smaller families. Feminists were not in agreement about the eugenics framework. After World War I, radical and socialist postures declined, and after World War II, female sexual fulfillment and individual rights were resurrected. The historical evidence suggests according to this author that individuals did better, when birth control was presented as part of an overall movement toward social equality and women's rights.

Keywords:

United States
Family Planning
Political Factors
Social Policy
Human Rights
Social Change
Malthusianism
Eugenics
Population Control
Communication
Feminism
Female Role
Women
Changes
Developed Countries
North America
Americas
Policy
Population Theory
Demography
Social Sciences
Genetics
Biology
Population Policy
Social Behavior
Behavior
Demographic Factors
Population