81241
Description
Flashcards by hannahpupkewitz, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by hannahpupkewitz
almost 11 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Birth control and class | middleclass were early adopters of the condom,or, the ‘sheath’ in the 1930s/40s after they began being manurfactured in England in 1932 The working class favoured withdrawal, despite it’s extreme unreliability, due to the continuous self-discipline many men did not possess, and frequently had a deleterious effect on the sexual lives of both in the relationship, as any ‘slip’ could end in disaster. condoms may have been too expensive for working class at 2s or 3s, and husbnads by not using condoms could trap working class women in unhappy marriages.contraception ended up being abortion even though it was criminal it was widely practied - in 1939 Interdepartmemntal Committee on Abortion suggested 40-66000 babies a year were aborted. |
| Birth control and church | Church of England in 1908 pronouced contraception morally, theologically and socially wrong. Widespread usage compelled them to redebate issue in 1920 Lambeth Conference. Despite much lobbying from birth control organisations, reaffirmed its opposition. in 1930 the Lambeth Conference decided that where a moral obligation existed to limit or avoid parenthood and were there was a morally sound reason for avoiding abstinence other methods may be used. their motive in promoting birth control was population control, preservation of midle class values which they felt were threatened by the multiplication of the lower orders. |
| Birth control an doctors | Until WWII no medical school gave instruction in birth control, or often in reproduction, so many doctors were as embarrassed as the patient, which often looked like contempt or indifference - In 1940s 22% doctors were Catholic, which might explain delay in teaching or willingness to discuss birth control Pharmacists could sell contraception but neither advertise it or give any advice on how to use it 1925 law modified so pharmacists could give verbal advice, but not written. |
| Sex and class | middle class new about sex in terms of taboos and science working class new about sex in terms of rumours and gossip |
| A Letter to Working Mothers: | Birth Control pamphlet on how to have healthy children and avoid weakening pregnancies à pamphlet sized was for the pocket and targeted working class women. |
| Men | Married love was dedicated to young husbands and 40% of Marie Stopes's correspondents were men writing on behalf / out of concern for their wives - male soldiers, doctors too. |
| Revolutionary? | Married Love became the bible for marriage best seller. The praise she received, the correspondents with so many types of people soldiers, doctors, young husbands, young wives --> showed its universal appeal. Stopes broke through taboos on sexual matters made them part of rhetoric - part of discussion. provided acceptable language for discussing sexuality. doctors took her advise. clinics still open today, one opened in Ireland recently. |
| Timing + tone? | The times were ripe for Married Love. Women had not yet won the vote, but feminists had won the intellectual argument in favour of the emancipation of women. In addition, the Great War was leading to freer sexual relations. The reassuring title of her book was wisely chosen, for premarital sex, let alone homosexuality, would have been completely beyond the conventional pale. The book was also successful because it came at a great time Married Love arrived 8 months before WW1 which transformed women’s place in society - women’s new positions in the workplace, as nurses servants, plumbers, bus condocters, van drivers, factory hands - gave them independent source of money, power and purpose - and an increased opportunity to mix socially with men. Sexually the war left its mark, increased veneral disease, injury , mutilation , shell. First world war managed to breakup much official prejudice towards contraception - largely because of increase use of condoms as preventative against venereal disease - in 1917 nearly 55,000 soliders were hospitalised with VD- although there were still fears that the sheath and other birth control methods would encourage immorality. Also brought to light some of the conditions motherhood took place in - awful codnitions - medical indifference, maternal mortality was high during the interwar years - quality of population was important both to fight in any future war and to replenish those lost in the was - something like 7 million - plus the casualities of exponential offspring. - population decline . |
| Mutuality | Stopes was pro - mutuality - equality between men and women in terms of sex, travel, education, freedom. However England wasn't a mutualist place at the time 3/4s of state funded secondary schools were single sex and practically all youth clubs remained single sex. |
| Married Love | Published 1918. Sold 2000 copies in two weeks, 17,000 in a year, half a million by 1925, 1,000000 by 1950. Talks about 1) mutual ignorance surrounding sex 2) the damage of men forcing sex on unwilling wives 3) women have a sexual cycle, they're not contrary and not passive / desireless. Talks about married sex as a union - romantic - higher spiritual level. Sex doesn't have to just be done for procreation but it should be done within the framework of marriage. Everyone desires a life partner / a soulmate and children to complete them. Men are confused my women's ability to ast one time be emotionally and physically close and at another distant - they see it as contrary or as a sign of infidelity and are sad that there wife appears to be irrational and unreasonable. |
| Stopes's Critics | Catholic church criticised her pro birth control, pro sex outside of procreation stance. Too middle class - e.g suggestions to go on holiday in switzerland, to eat oysters and to fit the diagram in while dressing for dinner. Some found her books obscene. Doctors criticised her for not being a doctor and for being unscientific. limits - still says you need a man limits - stopes still focuses on the heterosexual couple and reproduction. |
| Clinics | Stopes opened a family planning clinic in Holloway in 1921- first in the country. It offered a free service to married women and also gathered data about contraception. In 1925, the clinic moved to central London and others opened across the country. By 1930, other family planning organisations had been set up and they joined forces with Stopes to form the National Birth Control Council. |
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