The Family Planning Association and Contraceptive Science and Technology in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain

This book offers the first in-depth investigation into the relationship between the National Birth Control Association, later the Family Planning Association, and contraceptive science and technology in the pre-Pill era. It explores the Association's role in designing and supporting scientific research, employment of scientists, engagement with manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, and use of its facilities, patients, staff, medical, scientific, and political networks to standardise and guarantee contraceptive technology it prescribed and produced. By taking a micro-history approach to the archives of the Association, this book highlights the importance of this organisation to the history of science, technology, and medicine in twentieth-century Britain. It examines the Association's participation within Western family planning networks, working particularly closely with its American counterparts to develop chemical and biological means of testing contraception for efficacy, quality, and safety.

Natasha Szuhan is Lecturer and Researcher in Sociology at the Australian National University and teaches History at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests lie broadly within and around the history of science, technology, and medicine.

Autorentext

Natasha Szuhan is Lecturer and Researcher in Cultural Studies and History at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Her research interests lie broadly within and around the history of science, technology and medicine.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction: Darwinian Principles Meet Early Contraceptive Science. - Chapter 2. The Origins and Development of Contraceptive Science. - Chapter 3. Regulation of Clinical Practice at the North Kensington Women's Welfare Centre. - Chapter 4. Employing Pure and Applied Science to Assess Contraceptive Technologies. - Chapter 5. Teaching the Wright Way: Guiding Medical and Lay Sexual Knowledge. - Chapter 6. The Association and British Scientific Sex and Contraceptive Education Networks. - Chapter 7. Imposing Authoritative Safety and Efficacy Standards. - Chapter 8. Hormonal Technology and the Inevitability of Contraceptive Oversight. - Chapter 9. Conclusion: The Fittest Survived?