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

Author
Kluchin, Rebecca M. (Rebecca Marie) [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2009], ©2009.
Description
xi, 269 pages ; 24 cm.

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
ReCAP - Remote StorageHQ766.5.U5 K55 2009 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Series
    Critical issues in health and medicine. [More in this series]
    Summary note
    "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."--BOOK JACKET.
    Notes
    Rev. ed. of thesis: Fit to be tied? : sterilization and reproductive rights in America, 1960-1984 / by Rebecca M. Kluchin. c2004.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-262) and index.
    Contents
    • Ch. 1. From Eugenics to Neo-eugenics
    • Ch. 2. "Fit" Women and Reproductive Choice
    • Ch. 3. Sterilizing "Unfit" Women
    • Ch. 4. "Fit" Women Fight Back
    • Ch. 5. "Unfit" Women Fight Too
    • Ch. 6. Irreconcilable Conflicts
    • Ch. 7. The Endurance of Neo-eugenics.
    ISBN
    • 9780813545271
    • 0813545277
    • 1679755706
    • 9781679755705
    LCCN
    2008036418
    OCLC
    244265635
    Other standard number
    • 40016797557
    RCP
    C - S
    Statement on language in description
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