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Marie Stopes, a biography
351 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 1977
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 27, 2019
How does one judge a biography? Ruth Hall claims that hers is the first to be free from interference by the subject. Marie Stopes, who wrote probably the first sex guide in modern times, was a deeply narcissistic individual who thought that the Pope's encyclical Humanae Vitae was aimed at her personally, and wrote to the Pope accordingly. Biographies in her lifetime were written by acquaintances and vetted by her.
I had always assumed that Married Love, published in 1918, was a carefully composed sex guide, by one who knew her stuff, with a title chosen to discomfit the reading public as little as possible. I haven't read it personally. In fact, Marie Stopes was a deeply frustrated woman who had yet to take her impotent husband to court (the marriage was successfully annulled later on the basis of nonconsummation). The first man she had fallen in love with retreated to Japan and spread rumours of leprosy to drive her away. She wrote the guide - which changed many people's lives for the better, as her vast correspondence demonstrates - as a 38-year-old virgin.
Life picked up for her in many ways after this point, but her legacy was tarnished by the fact that she couldn't accept that other people fought for contraceptive rights. She certainly couldn't accept that the Marie Stopes cervical cap might not be as good as subsequent devices.
I've fallen prey to the usual trap of describing the key points of the subject rather than assessing the biographer. But Ruth Hall made good use of the vast correspondence she had access to, and managed to track down Marie Stopes' elderly son as well. It's a well-written, if quite sad, biography. Hall rightly points out that Marie Stopes should be remembered more for Married Love than her disgraceful rows with American birth control pioneers. As it is, she's not much remembered at all.
I had always assumed that Married Love, published in 1918, was a carefully composed sex guide, by one who knew her stuff, with a title chosen to discomfit the reading public as little as possible. I haven't read it personally. In fact, Marie Stopes was a deeply frustrated woman who had yet to take her impotent husband to court (the marriage was successfully annulled later on the basis of nonconsummation). The first man she had fallen in love with retreated to Japan and spread rumours of leprosy to drive her away. She wrote the guide - which changed many people's lives for the better, as her vast correspondence demonstrates - as a 38-year-old virgin.
Life picked up for her in many ways after this point, but her legacy was tarnished by the fact that she couldn't accept that other people fought for contraceptive rights. She certainly couldn't accept that the Marie Stopes cervical cap might not be as good as subsequent devices.
I've fallen prey to the usual trap of describing the key points of the subject rather than assessing the biographer. But Ruth Hall made good use of the vast correspondence she had access to, and managed to track down Marie Stopes' elderly son as well. It's a well-written, if quite sad, biography. Hall rightly points out that Marie Stopes should be remembered more for Married Love than her disgraceful rows with American birth control pioneers. As it is, she's not much remembered at all.
And yet, within that decade [1918-1930], there had taken place a radical change in public opinion, and there were few who did not ascribe that change to Marie Stopes.
August 4, 2008
Interesting and dispassionate biography of an important and remarkable woman. Very well written.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews