Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America

For nearly a century, from the advent of repressive Comstockery in the 1870s to the development of The Pill in the 1950s and 1960s, the history of contraception in our national history suggests several irrefutable truths. National and state governments, ignoring the realities of consumer demand for safe and effective contraception, have unsuccessfully attempted to repress not only the creation of birth control devices but have actively engaged in suppression of information about them.Despite official opposition, a semi-covert, but vibrant underground market economy developed to satisfy the insatiable demand for methods to control sexual reproduction. Professor Andrea Tone's meticulously researched and felicitously written "Devices and Desires" is at once a survey of the technology of contraception, a political analysis of the struggle for women to obtain control over the reproductive lives and an engaging social history of the advocates, producers and consumers of contraceptive devices over the past century and a half.Recounted through a series of analytical and chronological narratives, Professor Tone provides an interesting perspective on Anthony Comstock, whose name now symbolizes sexual prudery and repression. Tone comments that Comstock's fierce advocacy of governmental intervention and suppression of birth control contains its own class and ethnic bias. Comstock purposely ignored the fact that his most loyal supporters not only abetted, but profited from, the production of birth control devices. (Tone's exposure of Samuel Colgate's hypocrisy exemplifies this blatant double standard.)Ironically, Comstock's purported success in nationalizing repression and supposed eradication the manufacture and dissemination of birth control products and information generated a robust, underground market-driven economy centered around contraceptive devices. With large-scale industrial giants eschewing production, a fiercely competivite, unregulated industry blossomed and produced its own Horatio Alter success stories, such as that of condom-king Julius Schmid, once arrested and later lionized for the same activity."Devices" also praises the extraordinary contributions of Margaret Sanger but notes the costs of her focus. Eventually losing her egalitarian radicalism, Sanger becomes responsible for the conversion of birth control from a market-generated phenomenon to a medically-controlled activity. Though she succeeds in legitimzing contraception, Sanger inadvertently works to narrow the range of women who could obtain access to the very services and products she so deperately wanted to make acceessible to all women.Tone's history contains numerous wise and unexpected observations about the political and social impact of the battle to make birth control legal. Chapters detailing the controversial development of oral contraceptives and the re-emergence of the IUD help underscore the esential tensions of birth control in a nation where women consistently demand a safe-reliable product but their government sorely lags behaind clear public consensus.This tension between technological ability and restricted social access to education and product results in our country's staggering rate of unwanted pregnancies. Professor Tone's spirited history suggests that the history of contraception in the United States has many chapters yet to be written.

I won't go into much depth with this review because others have done that very well. I learned about the social politics behind birth control. I was already familiar with Margaret Sanger, but this book covers a wide array of the legal issues and public attitudes toward feminine hygiene and birth control. (One often disguised as the other.) The ads for Listerine are funny and sad at the same time. I wish there had been more illustrations of the actual devices. Patent applications and pictures would be fascinating. There are pictures of groups of pessaries and IUDs, but they are blurry. Overall, interesting book.

One of my favorite college required readings. If you’re a woman you really should read this! The history of contraception and it’s availability to various populations is fascinating.

I read this book for a college history class. I found it fascinating and very informative. It is well researched yet it is written in a way that is interesting and accessible for non-academics as well as academics. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of public health and women's health in America.

This book was not only interesting, but it taught me some important things about female birth control that helped me provide informed input when my wife went onto birth control.

The book was missing over 100 pages from the binding.

Devices and Desires is indeed an interesting and well documented accounting of the history of the Contraceptive Industry.In the interest of historical accuracy, however, it should be noted that the name Julius Schmid was not originally spelled 'Schmidt' as stated in the book. As far back as the early 1700's the name was always spelled Schmid throughout the generations.Nor was Julius Schmid Jewish as stated in the book. He was Evangelical Christian as were his ancestors. These facts are a matter of historical documentation from the original Church records in Schorndorf, Germany going back as far as the early 1700's.Despite these inaccuracies, the Devices and Desires remains fascinating.