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Unit 10 PowerpointTRANSCRIPT
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