Encyclopedia of Birth Control (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781576071816)

Edited by a noted scholar of health and sexuality, Encyclopedia of Birth Control is a complete report on the historical development and efficacy of contraceptive practices around the world, both past and present.

Without contraception, a healthy, sexually active woman will give birth to about 15 children and over her life span, spend most of her reproductive years either pregnant or nursing a newborn infant. So controlling fertility has preoccupied women--and often their husbands--since at least 1000 B.C.

In this comprehensive reference, readers can explore the history of birth control from a variety of perspectives: anthropological, biological, economic, feminist, medical, political, and psychological. From wet nurses to chastity belts, from animal-dung contraceptives to the Dalkon Shield, readers will learn how women have attempted birth control, contraception, and abortion throughout history and throughout the world. Readers will also discover why opposition to birth control was so fierce early in the 20th century that many American women and men were jailed for disseminating information on avoiding pregnancy, and why family planning remains hotly controversial almost a century later.

Author: Vern L. Bullough
ISBN-10: 1576071812
ISBN-13: 9781576071816
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Language: English
Published: 06/13/2001
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.77lbs
Size: 10.30h x 7.24w x 1.02d

Review Citation(s):
Voice of Youth Advocates 02/01/2002 pg. 463
Scitech Book News 09/01/2001 pg. 16
American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2002 pg. 666
Booklist 01/01/2002 pg. 892