Birth Control, Sex, and Marriage in Britain 1918-1960 by Kate Fisher

Birth Control, Sex, and Marriage in Britain 1918-1960 by Kate Fisher

The first half of the twentieth century witnessed a revolution in contraceptive behaviour as the large Victorian family disappeared. This book offers a new perspective on the gender relations, sexual attitudes, and contraceptive practices that accompanied the emergence of the smaller family in modern Britain. Kate Fisher draws on a range of first-hand evidence, including over 190 oral history interviews, in which individuals born between 1900 and 1930 described their marriages and sexual relationships. By using individual testimony she challenges many of the key conditions that have long been envisaged by demographic and historical scholars as necessary for any significant reduction in average family size to take place. Dr Fisher demonstrates that a massive expansion in birth control took place in a society in which sexual ignorance was widespread; that effective family limitation was achieved without the mass adoption of new contraceptive technologies; that traditional methods, such as withdrawal, absitinence, and abortion were often seen as preferable to modern appliances, such as condoms and caps; that communication between spouses was not key to the systematic adoption of contraception; and, above all, that women were not necessarily the driving force behind the attempt to avoid pregnancy. Women frequently avoided involvement in family planning decisions and practices, whereas the vast majority of men in Britain from the interwar period onward viewed the regular use of birth control as a masculine duty and obligation. By allowing this generation to speak for themselves, Kate Fisher produces a richer understanding of the often startling social atttitudes and complex conjugal dynamics that lay behind the vast changes in contraceptive behaviour and family size in the twentieth century.

An engaging text with a wealth of information.. impressive and important because it uses both men and women's account of sex, contraception and gender roles to challenge historiography of feminism and family planning. * Hilary Young, Oral History *
[A] tribute to the power of oral history...extremely meticulous. * London Review of Books *
thoroughly researched, thoughtfully argued and well-written book. * Christabelle Sethna, Metascience *

Kate Fisher, Professor of Social and Cultural History and Co-Director of the Sexual Knowledge, Sexual History project, University of Exeter, Rebecca Langlands, Associated Professor in Classics and and Co-Director of the Sexual Knowledge, Sexual History project, University of Exeter

Kate Fisher is Professor of Social and Cultural History and Co-Director of the Sexual Knowledge, Sexual History project at the University of Exeter.

Rebecca Langlands is Associated Professor in Classics and Co-Director of the Sexual Knowledge, Sexual History project at the University of Exeter.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199544608
ISBN 10	0199544603
Title	Birth Control, Sex, and Marriage in Britain 1918-1960
Author	Kate Fisher
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2008-05-29
Number of pages	304
Prizes	Winner of *Choice* Outstanding Academic Book 2007.
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.