Wise Parenthood: A Treatise on Birth Control or Contraception

by Marie Stopes

Originally published in 1918. An early book on contraception, its theory, history and practice. Much of the advice on birth regulation contained here is still very practical and useful today. Illustrated. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes was a British author, palaeobotanist, academic, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of birth control. Her contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification were significant, and she was the first female academic on the faculty of the University of Manchester. With her second husband Humphrey Verdon Roe she founded the first birth control clinic in Britain. Stopes edited the newsletter Birth Control News which gave explicit practical advice. Her sex manual Married Love was controversial and influential: it brought the subject of birth control into wide public discourse. She was never in favour of abortion, arguing that preventing conception was all that was needed.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

$0.50, Beaverton library, withdrawn from circ.

[lucy snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

a really interesting book that details marie stopes's opinions on birth control, and her advice for the people of england. chapter two was interesting in its discussion of religion and birth control - which nicely links to our ostriches.

at points her eugenic stand point bleeds into her argument, as it seems to do in most of her work. she is advising for the 'normal' person, and has little time for anyone outside those parameters.

she does discuss both the pros and the cons of all these different types of birth control, objecting from some - sheaths, specifically - purely on an aesthetic level.

but i can only imagine how useful this book would have been in a world where even doctors are unwilling to give birth control advice!