On the Pill: A Social History of Oral Contraceptives, 1950-1970

by Watkins, Elizabeth Siegel

• ISBN13: 9780801868214
• ISBN10: 0801868211
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV PRESS

Summary

"In 1968, a popular writer ranked the pill's importance with the discovery of fire and the developments of tool-making, hunting, agriculture, urbanism, scientific medicine, and nuclear energy. Twenty-five years later, the leading British weekly, the Economist, listed the pill as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. The image of the oral contraceptive as revolutionary persists in popular culture, yet the nature of the changes it supposedly brought about has not been fully investigated. After more than thirty-five years on the market, the role of the pill is due for a thorough examination." -- from the Introduction In this fresh look at the pill's cultural and medical history, Elizabeth Siegel Watkins re-examines the scientific and ideological forces that led to its development, the part women played in debates over its application, and the role of the media, medical profession, and pharmaceutical industry in deciding issues of its safety and meaning. Her study helps us not only to understand the contraceptive revolution as such but also to appreciate the misinterpretations that surround it.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Siegel Watkins is an associate professor in the History of Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	1	(8)
Genesis of the Pill	9	(25)
Physicians, Patients, and the New Oral Contraceptives	34	(19)
Sex, Population, and the Pill	53	(20)
Debating the Safety of the Pill	73	(30)
Oral Contraceptives and Informed Consent	103	(29)
Conclusion	132	(7)
Notes	139	(24)
Bibliographical Essay	163	(12)
Index	175