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Thesis ID: CBB001561789

International Intercourse: Establishing a Transnational Discourse on Birth Control in the Interwar Era (2004)

Indiana University
Allen, Judith A.
Publication date: 2004
Language: English

Publication Date: 2004
Edition Details: Advisor: Allen, Judith A.
Physical Details: 256 pp.

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American birth control advocate Margaret Sanger (1884--1966) was instrumental in the development of an international birth control movement. This occurred, not after World War II as is commonly thought, but in the interwar era. Building upon existing _medical_ exchanges of information and materials in the global arena, she established a _social_ movement for birth control. While Sanger was not the only interwar---era figure involved in this endeavor, she was among the most active in pursuing an international agenda. A number of discursive themes emerge in the study of Sanger's interwar activities for the global provision of contraception: it would provide economic benefit to (individual) families and (collective) nations; family limitation would help avert the next war; and gendered ideas about contraceptive methods and its role in improving women's status. These themes are explored through an interrogation of Sanger's interactions with cohorts (travel and correspondence) in seven key nations in Europe, Asia and Southeast Asia, her role as founder and editor of the _Birth Control Review_, and lastly, as the organizer of three international birth control conferences (1925, 1927, 1930). The preoccupations established in these venues laid the foundation for the post-World War II international family planning movement. This dissertation project also challenges a prevailing assumption about the provision of birth control in the Soviet Union in the interwar era---that abortion was the only method available. An analysis of Soviet medical literature of the period reveals the existence of clinical and laboratory research on a range of contraceptive methods, and research on experimental methods. Curiously, medical advocates for birth control, and not Sanger, were the most active in efforts to exchange information with Soviet researchers. The explanation for this apparent anomaly underscores Sanger's goals and objectives as a social advocate for birth control in the global arena.

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Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 66/01 (2005): 379. UMI pub. no. 3162269.

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