Reproduction, Regulation, and Body Politics

Janet Golden. A Social History of Wet Nursing in America: From Breast to Bottle. Columbus, Ohio State University Press, 2001. xiii + 215 pp.; tables. ISBN 0-8142-5072-6 (pb).

Lara V. Marks. Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. xi + 359 pp.; ill.; tables. ISBN 0-300-08943-0 (cl).

Rosemary Nossiff. Before Roe: Abortion Policy in the States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001. x + 195 pp.; tables. ISBN 1-56639-809-6 (cl); 1-56639-810-X (pb).

Etienne van de Walle and Elisha P. Renne, eds. Regulating Menstruation: Beliefs, Practices, Interpretations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. xli + 292 pp.; tables. ISBN 0-226-84744-6 (pb).

Reproduction often defines the roles and expectations of women in dif ferent societies. Fertility, pregnancy, abortion, and lactation not only have individual physiological consequences for a woman, but they are also shaped by social interpretations as well. Each of the four books under consideration examines one aspect of reproduction from a particular disciplinary perspective. Lara Marks looks at the development of birth control pills from the angle of history of science and medicine, and Rosemary Nossiff views abortion policy through the lens of political science. The essays in Etienne van de Walle's and Elisha P. Renne's edited volume represent anthropological and historical approaches to assess menstruation and fertility, while Janet Golden uses the tools of economic and social history to analyze wet nursing. Discussions of reproduction tend to fall along two opposite poles, with scientific constructs at one end and social constructs at the other. Scientists often accuse historians of speaking imprecisely about scientific methodology and medical terminology, and social analysts find scientists dismissive of cultural context and stubborn to admit their own subjectivity. Neither is a complete view, and by engaging both approaches—as well as everything in between—reproduction can be understood in broader and richer ways. Examining these books together mitigates these shortfalls and provides a way to transcend disciplinary boundaries and examine reproduction from multiple perspectives.

In Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill, Lara Marks argues that, far from being a purely American technology, the pill was derived from a complex social network of international efforts that has gone unrecognized. She contends that "the oral contraceptive cannot be seen as a pure triumph for science; neither should it be seen as solely the invention of male scientists" (11). Instead, the cooperation between scientists, technicians, and physicians—both male and female—must be better understood to appreciate the creation, development, and consumption of the pill. She asserts that the search for a contraceptive pill cannot be confined to one specific place or time. Many people held similar ideas and simultaneously contributed to the invention of the pill.

Indeed, Marks uncovers many salient histories that lead to a better understanding of the development of contraceptive pills. She claims that the search began in the 1930s and 1940s for an alternative to steroidal hormones synthesized from animal by-products that were expensive and complicated to process. Although companies showed interest in manufacturing hormones to make the anti-arthritic drug cortisone and to treat menstrual irregularities, their use as contraceptives remained uncertain. Nevertheless, a race ensued between competing companies and independent scientists to discover cheap, readily available raw materials to produce synthetic estrogens in the 1950s. The drama cast renegade scientists, the wealthy benefactor Katherine McCormick, multinational corporations, and an unassuming yam as the characters that contributed to the creation of an economically viable pill. The economic potential of the pill was clear by 1962 when pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle sold the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, helping to increase company sales that year by 27 percent.

Beyond economic profitability, the pill held serious social implications as well. Marks examines the Catholic Church during the 1960s and how its policy discussions about oral contraception shaped contested meanings of the pill. She identifies a moment when condemnation of the...