Contraception: A History

List of illustrations vii

Illustration acknowledgements viii

Foreword ix

Introduction 1

Ars erotica: The Early Art of Contraception 11

The economics of sexual reproduction: birth control in the ancient world? 11

Calls for greater fertility: origin of the ethics of procreation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam 17

The not so secret wisdom of ancient medicine 29

Poetic truth: deliberate infertility as a theme in ancient literature 37

Unfruitful activities: 'suppositories for women' and herbal potions 42

Transformations: The Supposed Repression of Knowledge about Contraception in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 51

A history of demographics and the origins of birth control 51

Secreta mulierum: female wisdom on pregnancy and contraception 62

Sexual desire and atonement: the theology of the 'sinful flesh' 75

Castration, condoms, Casanovas: old and new methods of contraception 89

The Beginnings of scientia sexualis in the Nineteenth Century: The Impact of Moral and Political Imperatives on the Debate about Contraception 106

(Neo-)Malthusianism and its demographical implications 106

A fresh approach to knowledge: sex education pamphlets and theirreaders 117

Sexual politics: intensified control and resistance to it 139

The practice of 'being careful': between tradition and progress 144

An Everyday Regime: The 'Democratization' of Birth Control in the Twentieth Century 157

The promise of deliverance: contraception as emancipation 157

The 'Nationalization' of contraception: enforced sterilization and national birth control programmes 174

Changes in sexual morality and the waning influence of religion 186

Simultaneous existence of old and new methods of contraception 199

Future Prospects 216

The 'Pill for men': the contraceptive of the future? 216

Notes 221

Bibliography 237

Index 247