Feminism & Birth Control
What is feminism, really?...
Feminism has occurred
in three general waves...
- First Wave
- 19th & early 20th century; mostly about voting rights; women of color excluded
- Second Wave
- Mid-20th century; "women's liberation movement" for social & legal rights; non-middle class women excluded
- Third Wave
- Late 20th & early 21st century; attempted to address shortcomings of previous versions via intersectionality
- Fourth Wave (?)
A history of birth control, starting before the first wave of feminism...
Abstinence
The most effective form of birth control because the best way to avoid unplanned pregnancy is to abstain from sex.
Withdrawal
(Date of origin unknown, but recorded in the Book of Genesis)
Condoms made of fish bladders, linen sheaths, and animal intestines
3000 BCE
Items inserted into vaginas to prevent sperm from reaching egg (called pessaries)
1850 BCE
Plants with contraceptive
and abortifacient properties ingested in proper dosages
600 BCE
Thomas Malthus publishes
An Essay on the
Principles of Population
1798
Condoms and diaphragms
made of vulcanized rubber
1838
Comstock Act passed in U.S., outlawing the shipment of
sex items or information
through the U.S. Postal Service
1873
Formation of the
Malthusian League in Great Britain with the goal of promoting
family planning
1877
Margaret Sanger
Nurse who advocated birth control and family planning
Prosecuted under Comstock Act:
- 1914 for a publishing the book Family Limitation
- 1916 for opening the first birth control clinic in U.S.
Founded American Birth Control League in 1921, which later became Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health services in America
The "rhythm method"
(aka "calendar method")
utilizes the ovulation cycle itself
to determine egg fertility
1932
Birth control pills are prescribed by a doctor and taken every day to adjust hormone levels, preventing sperm from fertilizing eggs
1960
Intrauterine devices (IUDs)
are inserted into the uterus
by a doctor to prevent
sperm from reaching eggs
1968
Safe and legal access to abortion
is affirmed as a constitutional right by the Supreme Court
in the Roe v. Wade decision
1973
Contraceptive implants, shots, patches, and new types of pills offer a greater variety
of birth control options
1990s - 2000s
The responsibility for birth control falls mainly to people with uteruses and remains a controversial topic
Today
Birth Control Movement
By kdukes
Birth Control Movement
Overview up to the first modern birth control movement in the early 20th century.
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