Summary  

Terese    Ellis    Heather  Pawlicki    Lauren  Hazel    Ashley  Cox  

The  Birth  Control  Revolu0on   Margaret  Higgins  Sanger  Slee    

  September  14,  1879  –  September  6,  1966  

 American  Birth  Control  activist    

  Founder  of  the  American  Birth  control  league.  

Birth  Control  Clinics    Sanger  opened  her  first  birth  control  clinic  in  1916  against  MUCH  opposition.    Her  second  birth  control  clinic  was  opened  in  1923  in  Brooklyn.  

  The  main  goal  for  this  clinic  was  rather  than  challenging  obscenity  laws,  she  wanted  to  take  a  course  of  action  called  “doctors-­‐only  bills”  to  exempt  physicians  from  criminal  prosecution.    

  Her  first  attempt  at  introducing  the  bill  to  Congress  failed,  but  it  didn’t  stop  her.  

  Sanger  had  birth  control  smuggled  into  the  country  from  Europe  either  by  mail  or  across  the  U.S.  border  in  3-­‐in-­‐1  oil  drums.  

The  Shaping  of  a  Na0on    Beginning  in  the  1920’s  

Margaret  Sanger  and  Clarence  Gamble  established  doctor-­‐supervised  clinics,  promoted  laboratory  testing  of  contraceptives,  encouraged  the  physician-­‐fitted  diaphragm-­‐and-­‐jelly  method,  and  lobbied  the  American  Medical  Association  (AMA)  to  reverse  its  long-­‐standing  ban  on  birth  control.    

  Sanger’s  support  of  medicalized  birth  control  shaped  the  course  of  contraceptive  commercialization.    

A  Medical  Reorienta0on   The  diaphragm-­‐and-­‐jelly  method  was  so  effective  that  medical  schools  had  to  add  contraceptives  to  their  period  of  instruction  –  a  medical  reorientation  of  sorts.    By  the  1940’s  the  diaphragm  became  the  #1  doctor  recommended  contraceptive.  

  Medical  thinking  of  birth  control  had  indeed  shifted  

A  Medical  Reorienta0on    “The  large  majority  of  the  medical  profession  of  this  country  has  more  and  more  regard  of  contraceptive  practices  in  its  true  light  that  is,  not  as  a  moral  issue,  but  rather  as  a  branch  of  preventive  medicine.”  A  sick  woman  “should  be  entitled  to  medical  advice  which  will  protect  her  from  pregnancy  just  as  much  as  citizens  should  be  told  to  protect  themselves  from  smallpox,  diphtheria,  or  typhoid  fever.”  

The  Idea  of  “Public  Welfare”    The  argument  that  birth  control  should  be  mandatory  for  all:    Gave  contraceptives  added  respectability  as  tools  of  social  engineering  

  It  also  categorized  them  as  instruments  of  social  control,  weapons  in  a  eugenicist  war  against  criminality  an  imbecility.  

  Few  doubted  these  issues,  however  the  public  welfare  approach  yielded  a  slippery  slope  toward  state  control  if  viewed  as  a  public  remedy  rather  than  a  woman’s  choice.  

“Posi0ve”  Eugenics    Eugenics,  “good  in  birth”  -­‐  the  study  of  methods  of  improving  genetic  qualities  by  selective  breeding    Positive  eugenics  –  procreation  of  the  fittest  members  of  society  to  improve  the  American  gene  pool  

  Falling  birth  rates  among  white,  Protestant  and  native  born  prompted  many,  including  Theodore  Roosevelt,  to  condemn  the  use  of  birth  control  by  “selfish”  middle-­‐class  women  and  upper-­‐class  women  as  “race  suicide.”  

Nega0ve  Eugenics    Negative  eugenics  –  suppressing  the  

procreation  of  unfit  groups  of  people.    Compared  races  by  aptitude  and  

intelligence  to  determine  which  should  be  allowed  to  procreate.  

  Lobbied  to  restrict  immigration  of  southern  and  eastern  Europeans.  

  Criticized  proposals  to  fund  programs  for  retarded  children  and  prenatal  and  obstetric  care  for  the  poor  as  they  insisted  they  increased  the  life  span  of  defective  citizens.  

  “Eugenic  sterilization,  conservatively  and  sympathetically  administered,  is  a  practical,  humane  and  necessary  step  to  prevent  race  deterioration.”  

Steriliza0on:    a  form  of  Birth  Control  

  Sterilization  to  cure  compulsory,  uncontrollable  sexual  hysteria.    Recommended  for  women  who  had  been  subjected  to  having  their  ovaries  removed  to  cure  “so-­‐called  nymphomania  and  hysteria”  

  Male  sterilization  used  in  prison  to  control  prisoners  urge  to  masturbate  –  until  it  was  learned  that  vasectomies  do  not  affect  sexual  drive  nor  the  desire  to  masturbate.  

  Used  as  a  method  during  the  Great  Depression  as  a  “way  to  save  money.”  

  By  1932,  at  least  26  states  had  enacted  laws  permitting  the  forced  sterilization  of  individuals  considered  unfit.    By  1937,  almost  28,000  men  and  women  had  been  forced  to  undergo  eugenic  surgery  in  the  U.S.    More  than  16,000  were  women.  

Sanger’s  Clinic:  A  Conspiracy???    Sanger  opened  the  Birth  Control  Clinical  Research  Bureau  –  Harlem,  NY  (1930)  

  Aimed  at  distributing  cheap  contraceptives  to  the  under  privileged.  

  The  “research  bureau”  storefront  raised  suspicion  in  blacks  within  the  community  that  the  clinic’s  goal  was  to  experiment  on  and  sterilize  black  people.  

  After  racially  integrating  the  staff  and  changing  promotional  pamphlets,  still  nothing  changed  and  the  clinic  was  forced  to  close  in  1936.  

Closing  Thoughts    Birth  control  clinics  weren’t  going  to  succeed  in  supplying  birth  control  to  the  poor,  not  in  a  country  where  profits  for  manufacturers  and  medical  professionals  were  more  important  than  health  care  for  the  poor  and  where  extramural  clinics  had  to  be  funded  by  donations  and  defended  against  the  argument  that  it  would  be  cheaper  for  society  to  sterilize  the  indigent.  

  In  a  society  without  universal  health  care,  working-­‐class  people  are  systematically  denied  access  to  doctors  and  the  services  they  monopolize.    

  Despite  these  perils  of  the  business,  Sanger  never  gave  up  her  goal  of  quality  birth  control  for  all  –  she  just  never  achieved  it.  

Thoughts  to  Consider   Who  is  Margaret  Sanger  and  what  did  she  consider  her  most  valuable  contribution  to  society  

  How  did  Sanger  approach  the  issue  of  birth  control  for  women?  How  did  she  promote  it?  

  How  did  Sanger  get  prople  to  help  her  when  there  was  so  much  opposition?  

  How  is  this  linked  to  eugenics  and  what  was  eugenics  legislation  

 Why  do  you  think  the  clinics  in  Harlem  failed?   What  is  Tone  referring  to  when  she  notes  that  “  the  public  welfare  approach  yielded  a  slippery  slope  toward  state  control  once  contraception  became  a  public  remedy  rather  than  a  private  choice”  

Rachel  Maines  

 Goods  are  sold  everyday  around  the  world  that  are  advertised  for  a  purpose  other  than  they  are  often  used  for.    

 Examples  were  given  such  as  rolling  papers  and  tools  that  can  help  you  break  into  your  own  car.    

 Early  electromechanical  vibrators  took  over  the  use  of  manual  labor  at  the  end  of  the  19th  century.    

 Were  used  for  sexual  massage  treatment  and  therapy  by  doctors  to  massage  the  female  genitalia.    

 Although  today’s  society  can  identify  these  treatments  as  masturbation,  this  was  camouflaged  years  ago  to  relieve  hysteria.  It  was  not  seen  as  a  means  of  relieving  female  sexual  tension.  

  Symptoms  of  hysteria  were  said  to  be  “anxiety,  sense  of  heaviness  in  the  pelvis,  edema  (swelling)  in  the  lower  abdomen  and  genital  areas,  wandering  of  attention  and  associated  tendencies  to  indulge  in  sexual  fantasy,  insomnia,  irritability,  and  “excessive”  vaginal  lubrication.  

 After  such  treatments,  women  reported  that  they  felt  relief  of  their  hysteria  symptoms  which  was  later  identified  as  a  sexual  orgasm.  

 The  ethics  behind  this  practice  was  often  questioned  which  is  why  it  was  camouflaged.    

 As  this  therapy  became  more  popular,  devices  that  were  able  to  be  used  at  home  began  to  be  sold  in  the  market.    These  models  were  more  portable  and  were  less  costly  then  “treatment”  by  a  doctor.    

 Advertised  in  magazines  targeting  the  middle  class.  

 Clever  marketing  strategies  were  used  to  cover  up  the  sexual  nature  of  these  devices.    Were  advertised  as  “benefiting  health  and  beauty  by  stimulating  the  circulation  and  soothing  the  nerves”.  Were  also  said  to  make  you  look  younger.  

 Although  masturbation  is  more  socially  acceptable  then  years  ago,  camouflaging  of  goods  is  still  a  prevalent  marketing  technique.    It  is  more  often  seen  in  advertising  the  legal  uses  of  a  product  when  it  is  known  that  the  product  is  more  than  likely  used  for  an  illegal  purpose.    

Supplemental  Links   http://www.workers.org/2009/us/birth_control_0507/  

 http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/010626/women-­‐color-­‐pressing-­‐reproductive-­‐health-­‐agenda/  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJZSJ6cn8k4&feature=channel/  

 http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/08/autonomous-­‐contraception/  

Supplemental  Links  cont.  

 http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/menoexcerpt.asp?id=51&chapterID=31  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3IAnlboQuI  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky-­‐2GVT7ds