Motherhood in Bondage (Women and Health: Cultural and Social Perspectives

by Margaret Sanger, Margaret Marsh (Foreword)

Margaret Sanger (1883-1966) was a leading figure in the American birth control movement. Trained as a nurse, she moved to New York City to work among the poor. Having witnessed firsthand the travails of mothers in the city's poorest neighborhoods, she felt the need to provide them with information on reproduction and contraception. She abandoned her nursing career and devoted the rest of her life to disseminating information on women's reproduction and contraception, publishing books and articles and founding birth control clinics. In Motherhood in Bondage, first published in 1928, Sanger reproduced letters written to her from women and sometimes men from all over the country, in both urban and rural areas, who were seeking advice on reproductive matters and marital relations, but mostly imploring her to help them find ways to avoid more pregnancies. The letters are grouped by theme into sixteen chapters, and Sanger wrote an introduction to each chapter.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Womens, Health, Sexuality

472 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Margaret Higgins Sanger Slee was an American birth control activist and the founder of the American Birth Control League (which eventually became Planned Parenthood). Although she initially met with opposition, Sanger gradually won some support for getting women access to contraception. In her drive to promote contraception and negative eugenics, Sanger remains a controversial figure.

Reviews

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book impossible to put down. Sanger received thousands of letters begging for information on birth control, and this book is a collection of merely a fraction of those letters. Given our current political climate in the U.S., Motherhood in Bondage should be required reading for everyone.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who is against comprehensive sex education and/or abortion should have to read this book. Then they'd get a clue...or five.

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an incredible book and testament to what our grandmothers and great grandmothers had to live through.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to read, partly because the stories of women who wrote to Sanger were so depressing: Women married at 14 with double-digit pregnancies and recounting how many children were living and how many had died. I had to continually remind myself just how many diseases were killing the poor and those without resources in the early 20th century: typhus, syphilis, rheumatic fever, whooping cough, tetanus. Not to mention starvation and malnutrition. Undiagnosed/unrecognized postpartum depression that could not be treated. Medical conditions (including prolapsed uteri) that could not be treated. What the women went through was nothing short of heartbreaking.

On the downside, there were So Many Letters. Many of them very repetitive. I understand that Sanger's motivation was to convince the greater public (and their representatives) to change laws about birth control access and information. And maybe her strategy was to completely inundate congress and legislators with the pathos of women's lived experiences. But, as a 21st century reader, it was overwhelming. I really had to push myself to finish the last 100 pages. Not because the content was "bad," but because the sadness became overwhelming.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading in a post-Roe world. Margaret Sanger was in general not a great person, but this book is not about Margaret Sanger; the words here are the words of countless women who suffered from a lack of choice. I don't know that it's possible to read this book without feeling their heartache and longing for a better life for each and every one.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking. I'm so angry.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly this should be compulsory reading for any and all policy makers and honestly anyone.

[Lillian]

I'm not going to rate this since this is mostly just a set of letters sent to Margaret Sanger from real women. While many of the experiences were tough to read, I feel like I came away with a greater appreciation and respect for these women and those who fought for their right to have access to birth control. It was fascinating to read how women described and understood various pregnancy and health complications including HG, preeclampsia, TB, stillbirth, etc. I feel sad that so many people in the comfort of today's society really devalue the medical and scientific knowledge that have made women's lives so much better and I feel angry at those who, knowing better, spread misinformation about birth control, vaccines and adequate testing and pregnancy care.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read—by a likely eugenicist and yet a pioneer in the birth control movement that freed women from the tyranny of multiple unwanted pregnancies to the detriment of their physical and mental health.

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though repetitous and dated, this book is a good reminder of the repercussions of women who are denyed information about birth control and how important it is to eliminate the governement from decisions about family planning.

[Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classic - and it remains a heartbreaking reminder of how far women have come. The stories in this book are just desperate but a little repetitive. Overall I'd recommend this one though.

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looks interesting.