1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821580303321

Autore

Kluchin Rebecca M (Rebecca Marie)

Titolo

Fit to be tied : sterilization and reproductive rights in America, 1950-1980 / / Rebecca M. Kluchin

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, c2009

ISBN

1-280-49235-X

9786613587589

0-8135-4831-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (287 p.)

Collana

Critical issues in health and medicine

Disciplina

363.9/7

Soggetti

Sterilization (Birth control) - United States - History - 20th century

Birth control - Government policy - United States - History - 20th century

Reproductive rights - United States - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Rev. ed. of thesis: Fit to be tied? : sterilization and reproductive rights in America, 1960-1984 / by Rebecca M. Kluchin. c2004.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-262) and index.

Nota di contenuto

From eugenics to neo-eugenics -- "Fit" women and reproductive choice -- Sterilizing "unfit" women -- "Fit" women fight back -- "Unfit" women fight too -- Irreconcilable conflicts -- The endurance of neo-eugenics.

Sommario/riassunto

The 1960's revolutionized American contraceptive practice. Diaphragms, jellies, and condoms with high failure rates gave way to newer choices of the Pill, IUD, and sterilization. Fit to Be Tied provides a history of sterilization and what would prove to become, at once, socially divisive and a popular form of birth control. During the first half of the twentieth century, sterilization (tubal ligation and vasectomy) was a tool of eugenics. Individuals who endorsed crude notions of biological determinism sought to control the reproductive decisions of women they considered "unfit" by nature of race or class, and used surgery to do so. Incorporating first-person narratives, court cases, and official records, Rebecca M. Kluchin examines the evolution of forced sterilization of poor women, especially women of color, in the second half of the century and contrasts it with demands for contraceptive sterilization made by white women and men. She chronicles public acceptance during an era of reproductive and sexual



freedom, and the subsequent replacement of the eugenics movement with "neo-eugenic" standards that continued to influence American medical practice, family planning, public policy, and popular sentiment.