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

Fit to Be Tied provides a history of sterilization and what would become, at once, socially divisive and a popular form of birth control. Utilizing first-person narratives, court cases, and official records, Rebecca M. Kluchin examines the evolution of forced sterilization of poor women, especially...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kluchin, Rebecca M. (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, ©2009.
Series:Critical issues in health and medicine.
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Summary:Fit to Be Tied provides a history of sterilization and what would become, at once, socially divisive and a popular form of birth control. Utilizing 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, the shift away from sterilization and how it influenced many as.
The 1960s 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.
Item Description:Revised edition of thesis: Fit to be tied? : sterilization and reproductive rights in America, 1960-1984 / by Rebecca M. Kluchin. ©2004.
Books at JSTOR Evidence Based Acquisitions
EBSCO eBook Academic Comprehensive Collection North America
Physical Description:1 online resource (xi, 269 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-262) and index.
ISBN:9780813548319
0813548314