Article ID: CBB001213536

From Birth Control to Sex Control: Unruly Young Women and the Origins of the National Abstinence-Only Mandate (2013)

unapi

In the early 1980s, conservative politicians in the United States argued that the federal government was promoting promiscuity by providing teens with confidential access to government-funded family planning services. Claiming the problem was not that young women were getting pregnant but that they were having sex, they promised a new national policy---one that would stress self-discipline and family values over sexual indulgence. As argued in this paper, the resulting abstinence-only federal mandate both draws upon and reinforces traditional sexual scripts, which hold young women responsible for keeping male passion in check, thus selectively burdening them with the work of doing abstinence. Au début des années 1980, un certain nombre de politiciens américains conservateurs ont argué du fait que le gouvernement fédéral promouvait la promiscuité sexuelle en permettant aux adolescentes d'avoir accès à des services e planning familial subventionnés, ce en toute confidentialité. Prétendant que le problème ne se trouvait pas dans le fait que les jeunes femmes puissent se retrouver enceintes mais dans le fait qu'elles avaient des relations sexuelles, ils ont promis une nouvelle politique nationale qui mettrait l'accent sur la maîtrise de soi et les valeurs familiales plutôt que sur la liberté sexuelle. Dans cet article, il s'agit de montrer que le mandat fédéral de promouvoir une éducation d'abstinence ( abstinence-only ) qui en a résulté repose en même temps qu'il renforce des scénarii sexuels traditionnels dans lesquels les jeunes femmes sont chargées de mettre en échec les pulsions masculines et ainsi responsables de la mise en pratique de l'abstinence.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001213536/

Similar Citations

Book Prescott, Heather Munro; (2011)
The Morning After: A History of Emergency Contraception in the United States (/isis/citation/CBB001212465/)

Article Malich, Lisa; (2012)
Vom Mittel der Familienplanung zum differenzierenden Lifestyle-Präparat (/isis/citation/CBB001420902/)

Article Jennifer Johnson; (2018)
The Origins of Family Planning in Tunisia: Reform, Public Health, and International Aid (/isis/citation/CBB662781842/)

Book Erika Dyck; Maureen Lux; (2020)
Challenging Choices: Canada's Population Control in the 1970s (/isis/citation/CBB928803182/)

Book Kluchin, Rebecca M.; (2009)
Fit to Be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1950--1980 (/isis/citation/CBB000933019/)

Book Holz, Rosemarie Petra; (2012)
The Birth Control Clinic in a Marketplace World (/isis/citation/CBB001200724/)

Article Meldrum, Marcia; (2012)
Women Making Contraceptive Choices in 20th-Century America (/isis/citation/CBB001200878/)

Chapter Stéphanie Pache; Alain Giami; Sharman Levinson; (2021)
‘Healthy’ Relationships: Feminism and the Psy Disciplines in the Political History of Sexual Violence in Contemporary America (/isis/citation/CBB397277713/)

Book Trent MacNamara; (2018)
Birth Control and American Modernity: A History of Popular Ideas (/isis/citation/CBB500298639/)

Article Weisz, George; Olszynko-Gryn, Jesse; (2010)
The Theory of Epidemiologic Transition: The Origins of a Citation Classic (/isis/citation/CBB001034276/)

Book Jennifer L. Holland; (2020)
Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement (/isis/citation/CBB274317444/)

Book Gutmann, Matthew C.; (2007)
Fixing Men: Sex, Birth Control, and AIDS in Mexico (/isis/citation/CBB001032406/)

Article Kline, Wendy; (2005)
“Please Include This in Your Book”: Readers Respond to Our Bodies, Ourselves (/isis/citation/CBB000630054/)

Book May, Elaine Tyler; (2010)
America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation (/isis/citation/CBB001031593/)

Authors & Contributors
Sharman Levinson
Holland, Jennifer L.
Stéphanie Pache
Kateřina Lišková
Alain Giami
Trent MacNamara
Journals
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health
The Lancet
NTM: Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin
Medical History
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Publishers
University of California Press
Rutgers University Press
Springer International Publishing
University of Rochester Press
Northern Illinois University Press
McGill-Queen's University Press
Concepts
Birth control; contraception; sterilization
Public health
Family planning
Women and health
Medicine and politics
Sexuality
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
21st century
20th century, early
19th century
Places
United States
Czechoslovakia
South Africa
Poland
Hungary
Germany
Institutions
Population Council
World Health Organization (WHO)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment