Gender and Compulsory Sterilization Programs in America

1907-1950

Bibliographic Data

ID4300988
AuthorsAllison C Carey (0000-0003-1864-5918)
Year1998
Volume11
Issue1
Pages74-105
Publication date1998-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Historical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-1909 • E-ISSN: 1467-6443
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-6443.00054
OpenAlexW2051014725
LanguageEN
Citations received18

Current scholarship on compulsory sterilization and gender focuses almost exclusively on women as the targets of these programs. As Philip Reilly (1991:98) indicates, however, there occurred a "dramatic change" in the gender of those targeted for compulsory sterilizations in America. Prior to 1928 men were more likely to be sterilized, but, after 1928, women became far more likely to be sterilized. I use this shift as a focal point in examining the changing role of gender. First, I show the ways in which rationales for sterilization differed by gender. Then, turning to analyze the shift, I argue that the medical and legal professions criticized the rationales for male sterilization, yet these professions and others tended to be more supportive of female sterilization, imagining sterilization to have many advantages for society and women. Superintendents, simultaneously responding to external pressure and shaping sterilization to meet their own interests, transformed sterilization into a program which focused largely upon women

Business · Political science · Scholarship · Sociology · Sterilization (economics · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Medical History and Research · Medicine · Gender Studies · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub