Fertile Expectations: The Politics of Involuntary Childlessness in Twentieth-Century France (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781807072841)

An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, this book explores fraught political and cultural meanings attached to the notion of an "ideal" family size. When statistics revealed a sustained drop in France's birthrate, pronatalist activists pushed for financial benefits, propaganda, and punitive measures to counter declining fertility. Situating infertility within this history, the author details innovations in fertility medicine, cultural awareness of artificial insemination, and changing laws on child adoption. These practices offered new ways of responding to infertility and formed part of a growing expectation of being able to control one's fertility and family size. This book presents the political and cultural context for understanding why private questions about when to start a family, how many children to have, and how to cope with involuntary childlessness, evolved and became part of state demographic policies.

Author: Margaret Cook Andersen
ISBN-10: 1807072843
ISBN-13: 9781807072841
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/19/2027
Pages: 344
Format: Paperback