The Argument For Voluntary Motherhood

Lack of agency was not just in pregnancy but in many other aspects of a woman’s life. The societal mentality was the same for all areas of a woman’s life. Women were thought to be less scientific and more irrational than men. This comes from the common perception that women were not whole people; they needed men to be complete. In regards to motherhood, early feminists like

"Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servant hood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves and enjoy doing their jobs as mothers." (Stanley) . According to Betty Rollin 's essay, "Motherhood: Who Needs It?", Rollin argues that mothering, preconceived as a biological necessity, is in fact, a psychological desire. Rollin quotes psychiatrist Dr. Richard Rabkin: "Women don 't need to be mothers any more than they need spaghetti... But if you 're in a world where everyone is eating spaghetti, thinking they need it and want it, you will think so too." (Rollin 102) Although one 's society may have the power to influence his or her eating habits, a mothers desire to have children is an entirely different issue. Many women often want to have children and go through motherhood because of social pressure, to please their spouse, and to be "happy".

This results in men losing their jobs to women joining the workforce. This decreases the likelihood that they will want to have a child. (Document 5) According to an article on mother and child day, mothers are very important for the continuation of families. Mothers play a very important role to keep the family well and reproducing. The purpose of this mother and child day was to honor both motherhood and childhood. As stated, “they represent the supreme values of the race.” Without the guidance of a mother, her children would be lost. Also, without both mothers and children there would be severe moral, political, and economic decline. (Document 6) In 1930 there was a law code that made the sale and use of contraceptives a criminal offense. This was done because they figured that if you could not use contraceptives, many children would be conceived. Without them banning contraceptives, people would be able to choose whether they wanted to increase their families or not. (Document 9) The national organization for the protection of mothers and children, was an organization that would protect women who were pregnant, especially those who were needy. They wanted clinics to care for pregnant women and infants. The goal of fascism was to have offspring and have loyal fascists. These policies made the bachelors very angry because they would be heavily taxed. There was much negativity

In the text reading Delinquent Daughters: “Protecting and Policing Adolescent Female Sexuality in the United States” Author Mary Odom states raising the age of sexual consent in the U.S. increased the number of people prosecuted for statutory rape among consenting teenagers. Laws Predicated on the backs of the immigrants, native Blacks, and Mexican workers who had consensual sex with the daughters of the white middle class or Working-class minorities under Patriarchal rule. Odom states due to differences in the middle and working class sexual expression, to (avoid generalizing), Odom says the differences in the sexual expression of the middle class which operated within a patriarchal moral code, and the immigrant and working-class communities, who were more concerned with female chastity. (“Patriarchal structures of the preindustrial societies, diverse religious tradition, and codes of honor that associated family reputation with the morality of wives and daughters.” Odom states that in the United States fathers/men controlled both the workforce, labor and the “sexual lives of their wives’ children and servants in ways that supported the family economy” (p.43). One threat to Patriarchal control “was the out of wedlock birth” (p.44) Thus premarital chastity was influenced by religion and men and therefore, was highly regarded. Premarital sex was considered sinful and the double standard of sexual roles was at work as “sexual promiscuity would destroy a woman’s honor, while it

To the question “Why the Woman Rebel?” Sanger wrote “Because I believe that deep down in woman’s nature lies slumbering the spirit of revolt” and “Because I believe that through the efforts of individual revolution will woman’s freedom emerge”. Both highlight how birth control was not a mere technique to personal freedom, but an avenue to power. These quotes emphasize Sanger’s belief that the birth control pill would unleash the spirit of freedom amongst women. She did not argue for the open distribution of contraceptive to promote personal freedom. However, she believed that limitation on family size would free women from the dangers of childbearing and give them the opportunity to become active outside the home. In addition, Document 1 acknowledges birth control’s ability to bring about radical social class change. Sanger includes her belief that women are “enslaved by the world machine…middle-class morality”. Her idea of social change not only involved embracing the liberation of woman, but also the working class. It is believed that the birth control campaign succeeded as it became “a movement by and for the middle class”. Birth control provided middle-class women the opportunity to plan families without the stress of balancing growing expenses for a child that was not planned for. In The Woman Rebel Sanger introduces birth control’s larger mission of power and opportunity for women while incorporating the basis of social class.

The Birth Control Movement of 1912 in the United States had a significant impact on Women’s Reproductive Rights. Women in the 1800s would frequently die or have complications during or after childbirth. Even if the woman would have died, they would still have a great amount of children. As the years progressed into the 1900s, the amount of children being born dropped. Because of this, birth control supplements were banned, forcing women to have a child that she was not prepared for or did not want to have in the first place.

Humans have been engaging in sexual acts since the beginning of time. Sex has evolved from reproducing to sustain life, to being one of the most intimate experiences one can share with another. Knowledge about safe sex was limited, so people would have it whenever they pleased. Contraceptives were not widely available before the mid 1800s, so people would have unprotected sex and not know the serious implications it could lead to. As the years progressed, people realized that without taking the proper precautions, sex could leave them with life changing consequences, so something had to be done. In 1916, Margaret Sanger took it upon herself to open up the first birth control clinic where women could receive birth control. This was the beginning of the Planned

The early twentieth century was a turning point in American history-especially in regards to the acquisition of women's rights. While the era was considered to be prosperous and later thought to be a happy-go-lucky time, in actuality, it was a time of grave social conflict and human suffering (Parish, 110). Among those who endured much suffering were women. As Margaret Sanger found out, women, especially those who were poor, had no choice regarding pregnancy. The only way not to get pregnant was by not having sex- a choice that was almost always the husband's. This was even more true in the case of lower-class men for whom, 'sex was the poor man's only luxury' (Douglas, 31). As a nurse who assisted in delivering

These two pieces jumpstarted Sanger’s campaign for a woman’s right to access birth control. The Notably, Margaret Sanger debuted her tabloid---The Woman Rebel---in 1914. In regards to this, Sanger argued in “Why the Woman Rebel?” that deep down in every woman lies a spirit of revolt. Women in the early twentieth century were accustomed to listening to their husbands and having no voice of opinion. Women never felt the freedom of independence. The government ruled it illegal to distribute information on birth control, but that did not stop Sanger from rebelling against this law. When Sanger states, “…I believe that not until wage slavery is abolished can either woman’s or man’s freedom be fully attained,” she compared women to slaves, held down by the chains of restriction from gaining their own wages. Sanger argued for women’s freedom to make their own decisions. Falling into the child-bearing standard did not give women a choice on whether they wanted to be a part of the working class or to spend their lives as housewives. Publishing tabloids influenced many women across the country to reconsider their lives, but it was never easy for radical feminists to voice their opinion

The modern world is in the midst of reconstructing gender roles; debates about contraception, reproductive freedom, and female inequality are contentious and common. The majority now challenges the long established assertion that women’s bodies are the eminent domain of patriarchal control. In the past, a woman’s inability to control her reproductive choices could come with ruinous consequences. Proponents of patriarchal control argue against reproductive independence with rhetoric from religious texts and with anecdotes of ‘better days,’ when women were subservient. Often, literature about childbearing fails to acknowledge the possibility of women being uninterested in fulfilling the role of motherhood.

In order to break free from the shackles of predestined breeding, Sanger suggests that women “assert their right to voluntary motherhood.” Through thinking on their own, women can be in command of their own bodies and in turn determine how to live their lives. While this may seem absurd to a modern mind, this was truly innovative and dangerous for Sanger to suggest. She was challenging traditions that dated back hundreds of years. “Even as birth control is the means by

In the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution caused a sharp differentiation between gender roles. Men and women were thought to have completely different roles. Men were seen as workers while women were seen as home-makers. Men and women were totally opposites each other. Marriage was seen as the only proper locale for sex, and women didn’t have any rights in their marriage lives. Birth controls were absent, and abortion was forbidden since 1800s. Sex within marriage usually meant frequent pregnancy, especially as some areas had laws that a husband had his rights to his wife’s body. The death rate for a woman delivering a child was 1 in 200 in 1870 (Radek-Hall), so having children could be psychologically traumatic for women.

This has changed significantly since the 19th century. Sex, amongst others, is no longer taboo to women and it has become a much more liberated subject. It is encouraged and accepted in today's society that a woman enjoys sexual pleasures outside the restraints of only pregnancy, even marriage.

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

Over the hundreds of years that have passed between then and now, women have been able to gain a vast number of accomplishments for themselves. With the women’s rights movements, among other successful endeavors, one would assume that men would begin to gain insight and more respect for the female population. Men still hold the mentality that women are in the world for their own sexual gratification, consensual or not. Women, on the other hand, are more sexually expressive and active than ever. Women are able choose whether they want to engage in a monogamous relationship or take the