Margaret Sanger (1879–1966)

In the true Malthusean vein, Margaret Sanger pleads the case for "birth control." She mixes feminism, over-population fears, eugenic philosophy and politics to free mothers from forced maternity and misery.

She spends the first few chapters explaining how multiple births by one mother weaken her to the point of an early death. Over crowed homes fill with unwanted children who become prostitutes, feebleminded criminals, day laborers, illiterate leaches on society much like the Juke family - show more the most famous family eugenicists used to promote forced sterilization. It would be easy to grant scientific ignorance when she contents that numerous children in wage earning households amongst slums cause mothers to become insane. She spends a chapter recounting the human history of use of abortion, abortifacients, and infanticide only to conclude the chapter with an at best tacit admonishment of the practice. A chapter is dedicated to labor unions and an emotional call to arms of working class women to tone down the baby-factories; after all, producing babies only floods the labor force which drives down price and encourages child-labor practices. She nearly calls for women to have protected work rules and discusses the disease and death associated with pregnancy as tantamount to work place illness and fatalities.

All of the abominable conditions of the human race could be alleviated with birth control. The infant mortality; heartbreak families and society suffer by being forced to gaze upon disfigured and mentally deficient offspring; child labor, prostitution, and filling up of orphanages; nations going to war simply because they see a large population as "cannon fodder" and necessity of resources lead to imperialism; poverty and hunger; women being spuriously kept under the awful oppression male chauvinism, perpetuated by religious and political philosophy.

Woman and the New Race is filled with circular logic. Women, as she reminds us in the conclusion of the book, were once leaders of the world, artisans beyond compare, driving forces that made the world unstoppable. Yet at some point, which is not specified, the fairer gender became enslaved and struggle to determine their own timeline of motherhood. Walking wombs they become; with each child, they progressively become weaker and more sickly. They went from captains guiding our species towards virtue to bringing about the demise of our race. "While unknowingly laying the foundation of tyranny and providing the human tinder for racial conflagrations, woman was also unknowingly creating slums, filling asylums with insane, and other institutions with defectives.... Had she planned deliberately to achieve this tragic total of human waste and misery, she could hardly have done it more effectively." It never ceases to amaze me how those claiming victimization of groups claim if they weren't subjugated, they would be unrestrained forces for virtue like they once were, a long time ago; somewhere along the line said group was overpowered by a more generalized section of society.

Another chapter alludes to another of Malthus's qualms: emigration. She loosely breaks down 1910 federal census numbers and grouses over how many are illiterate and poor. Much like poverty or tuberculosis, she seems to capitulate that these conditions are permanent. While tuberculosis might have been untreatable to any effect, the other conditions are usually temporary. But, according to the book, birth control will correct all of this, or be the first step to alleviating these deplorable conditions as they are secondary to large families.

Contemporary vernacular is "bringing about awareness." This is one of many books equatable to ribbons affixed to minivans in a rainbow of colors. Sure, blue laws of the times prevented unfettered discussion and mass marketing of contraception, but it was available. One thing she fails to discuss is what would be the recourse should birth control be widely available and poor, imbecilic women failed to correctly use it? She echos the call at the time for preventing sick, indigent and mentally substandard from reproducing; eugenicists successfully got laws on the books and sterilized some several thousand Americans to prevent continuance of their defective heritage.

After spending chapters bemoaning the inability of women to control their motherhood (and yes, even their own instinctual tendencies), she concludes with a sunny, optimistic tone that once unlimited access to birth control, the self-controlled destiny of women will evolve the race. Understanding eugenics, this is a well veiled call for birth control of the poor and insane, but an overall desire to minimize the world's population. show less

She didn't write well and lets face it she was a full blown racists who was excited to orgasm the idea of eugenics, but: She was a fearless warrior for family planning and contraception. She championed female empowerment and civil disobedience even before women could vote. God Bless Margaret Sanger and her maniacally beautiful twisted soul.

Very good book on the life of a remarkable woman. She lead a forbidding,daringl life at a time when woman were property and not to think for themselves.She was ahead of her time. If you are interested in woman's rights over her own life and body,this is a good book to start with.

I hadn't realized just what an important impact Margaret Sanger had on our history and current lives until I decided to write a paper on her. For my paper, I read this book, and I am so glad I did -- from reading Sanger's own words about her life and her mission, I feel that I have connected with a very powerful, amazing woman.