Afterward: governing reproduction. Issue 6 (19th September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Briggs, Laura
• Is Part Of: Women's history review. Volume 30:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 1065
• Page End: 1069
• Publication Date: 2021-09-19
• Subjects: Women -- History -- Periodicals; 305.4
• DOI: 10.1080/09612025.2020.1833490
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0961-2025

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This afterward argues that the articles in this special issue show that while the desire to control fertility is as ubiquitous as sex in recorded human history, so too are efforts to govern it by states, religious institutions, and families. What distinguishes the modern era is thinking about fertility control in terms of populations—and hence, to a greater or lesser extent, state-organized eugenic schemes. In the most recent period, however, we see the emergence of regimes of austerity and privatization that seemingly privatize the stratification of reproduction, while resulting in more extreme downward pressure on fertility rates of impoverished people than eugenics was ever able to accomplish.