ipl-logo

Chapter Summary

2389 Words10 Pages

Since the dawn of time, man has always pondered whether women were equal to men. Questions about women’s physical and mental abilities have come up in every society and although every outcome is not the same, the general consensus was that women were the inferior gender. Because of this assumption women, as a whole, have experienced maltreatment, injustice and equality.
In the United States, there have been instances of small movements here or there, for voting or for equality. Several states had enacted laws that allowed women to own land and to vote in local elections. In some states, women were allowed to hold local offices. Women had also made great strides in breaking the barrier into male dominated professions, like nursing, medicine …show more content…

The book was written for mothers who didn’t know how to talk to their daughters and for girls who didn’t know anything about sex and pregnancies. A quote from the book gives us insight into Margaret’s intentions, “To which I replied that my object in telling young girls the truth is for the definite purpose of preventing… sexual relations… without thinking and knowing (Sanger 9).” This book spoke about many topics; including, puberty, menstrual cycles, the physical and mental consequences and benefits of sex, STDs, pregnancy (how to know when you’re pregnant, how to take care of yourself during pregnancy, miscarriages), and the continence of men. She wished to educate and inform women on everything that their body goes through, and how to safely care for themselves in all types of situations. Today we link pro-choice and feminism as one, but Margaret was not an advocate for either.. She simply stated that more women get hurt and/or sick from abortions then from full-term pregnancies and advised against getting …show more content…

Margaret Sanger spent her lifetime fighting for reproductive equality for women the world over. Coining the term “birth control”, Margaret faced many trials, including indictments for “obscene” behavior, jail time, lawsuits and many rallies against Planned Parenthood, to ensure that all women had access. Unfortunately, while she lived to see her dream go far, she died September 6, 1966, seven years before the pill became legally available to all women and before abortion became legal in the United States. Her obituary in the New York Times described her as “a dynamic, titian-haired woman whose Irish ancestry also endowed her with unfailing charm and persuasive wit was first and foremost a feminist. She sought to create equality between the sexes by freeing women from what she saw as sexual servitude.” Margaret Sanger would be proud that her legacy has continued into today and led to the education of young girls and women in contraceptive and reproductive health, regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic

Show More
Related

  • No Healthy Race Without Birth Control Margaret Sanger Summary

    295 Words  | 2 Pages

    Margaret Sanger was born in 1879 and die in 1966. This was a period time my grandmother and a lot of old women who I knew in my countryside in Vietnam. All of them born between ten and twelve children. Indeed,

    Read More

  • Summary Of America And The Pill: A History Of Promise

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    May credited Margaret Sanger and fellow women's rights proponent and philanthropist Katherine McCormick for driving, and funding, the push for an oral contraceptive, with the original intent to give women control of fertility. However, the majority of developers and advocates endorsed the birth control pill to solve "the problems of the world," specifically rising population, and particularly among lower socio-economic groups and in developing countries." Advocates feared widespread poverty in developing countries, poverty resulting from communism, and overpopulation in the United States due to the baby boom.

    Read More

  • How Did Margaret Sanger A Powerful Figure In The Early 20th Century

    633 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her compassion pushed her to take a stand, and fight for birth control for these women so that they could lead better and more fulfilling lives. Margaret believed that forcing women to undergo life-threatening births, and having children that they could not care for was essentially murder to both mother and children. Ironically Margaret’s mother was a devoted catholic, which in most cases because of Catholic faith often rejects birth control and views it as sinful, and Margaret fought for it to be allowed in the United States. Margaret noticed while working as a nurse that if women became pregnant and realized that they could not afford the child, they would seek abortions in unsanitary clinics and often became injured or worse in the process.

    Read More

  • Amita Kelly's Fact Check: Was Planned Parenthood

    989 Words  | 4 Pages

    Margaret Sanger, founder of what is now Planned Parenthood, was known for her strong beliefs in birth control and eugenics during the early 1900s. Eugenics is the principle that supports the betterment and purification of the human race through selected reproduction; only those who make a positive contribution to the general society and possess esteemed qualities should be able to bare offspring. While there were many who did not agree with her distinctive beliefs, a part of the modern black community regards her as someone who believed, and attempted, to wipe out the African-American race of the early twentieth century. Amita Kelly, writer and digital editor for National Public Radio, published an article titled “Fact Check: Was Planned Parenthood

    Read More

  • How Did Eleanor Roosevelt Impact Society

    1333 Words  | 6 Pages

    A.Introduction:History of the United States has numerous remarkable ladies who have rolled out critical improvements in women’s life. Two of such ladies were Eleanor Roosevelt Margaret Sanger and they lived roughly in the meantime. They both contributed immensely to change the women’s lives, roles and position them equally with men. Eleanor Roosevelt was born in 1884 in New York. Despite the fact that she was born in a wealthy family, her adolescence was miserable.

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger Research Paper

    785 Words  | 4 Pages

    She had left to stay in Europe where she had assisted in a birth control clinic. When she returned to the United States, she had decided to open up her first Birth Control Clinic which only lasted 10 days in Brownsville district of Brooklyn. She was then arrested for giving out contraceptives in 1917. However, by then many people were already aware of Margaret Sanger and her contraceptive movement and she got a lot of support from women.

    Read More

  • Loretta Lynn: Song Analysis

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    A line that struck me was “I’m tearing down your brooder house // ‘Cause now I’ve got the pill”. This spoke volumes to me about the empowerment that women felt after birth control became accessible to them. Conducting background research on the history of and initial responses to birth control helped me to better understand the story behind the song. I was able to pick up on the emotions in the lyrics more easily as well. It is quite evident that “The Pill” was a landmark work sung by Loretta Lynn that impacted women and feminism in a multitude of ways, paving the way for other women’s rights activists in the 1970’s and even still

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger And Birth Control

    1227 Words  | 5 Pages

    It angered Margaret Sanger when she would hear women ask their doctors for ways to prevent conception, and the

    Read More

  • Birth Control In The 1920's

    330 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1920s, birth control was a very significant issue that led to the controversial debate between Winter Russell and Margaret Sanger. Most people believed that Planned Parenthood caused the decline of population in human race. Many viewed it harmful to human being’s welfare. Sanger’s debate about birth control was to stand for the entitlement of women to access birth control. Today in our society, birth control plays a big role in our lives.

    Read More

  • Ethos And Pathos In Margaret Sanger's Speech

    1351 Words  | 6 Pages

    In her pilgrimage to fight for women’s rights, activist Margaret Sanger created a speech on a severely controversial topic not only during her time period, but during our present time period as well. While many firmly disagreed with her and still do, she did bring to light a major disparity between sexes and social classes. By vocalizing her qualms with the rights of women, mainly in the middle and lower classes, to decide for themselves if they wish to have children or not. By voicing her opinions in an extremely misogynistic era she made herself a totem in women’s history. Women do have a right to decide for themselves if they wish to have children or not.

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Sanger's Speech On Birth Control

    534 Words  | 3 Pages

    Taylor Hurst Kaiser AP Lang 11 November 2015 Analysis of Margaret Sanger’s Speech on Birth Control Margaret Sanger, an American birth control activist, made an announcement titled “The Children’s Era,’ at the first national birth-control conference in March of 1925. In this speech, Sanger attempts to influence her ideas and beliefs on the importance of birth control and contraceptives to the health of society’s women. She also vividly explains how controlled childbearing would apply to children who would eventually be born.

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger The Children's Era Summary

    1073 Words  | 5 Pages

    Trying to prevent neglected children and back-alley abortions, Margaret Sanger gave the moving speech, “The Children’s Era,” in 1925 to spread information on the benefits and need for birth control and women's rights. Margaret Sanger--activist, educator, writer, and nurse--opened the first birth control clinic in the United States and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. During most of the 1900’s, birth control and abortions were illegal in the United States, causing women to give birth unwillingly to a child they must be fully responsible for. This caused illness and possible death for women attempting self-induced abortion. Sanger uses literary devices such as repetition and analogies

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger The Children's Era Speech Analysis

    520 Words  | 3 Pages

    The argument over a woman’s right to choose over the life of an unborn baby has been a prevalent issue in America for many years. As a birth control activist, Margaret Sanger is recognized for her devotion to the pro-choice side of the debate as she has worked to provide sex education and legalize birth control. As part of her pro-choice movement, Sanger delivered a speech at the Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference in March of 1925. This speech is called “The Children’s Era,” in which she explains how she wants the twentieth century to become the “century of the child.” Margaret Sanger uses pathos throughout her speech as she brings up many of the negative possibilities that unplanned parenthood can bring for both children and parents.

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger's Family Limitations

    706 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Rather than face a possible five-year jail sentence, Sanger fled to England. While there, she worked in the women’s movement and researched other forms of birth control” (“Margaret Sanger”). Still, in the most stressful of times, Margaret Sanger was unremitting and determined to make a difference. Through all of her trials and tribulations, she was astounding in her unending efforts. All of Sangers hard work started to pay

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger Analysis

    473 Words  | 2 Pages

    Margaret worked as a visiting nurse in the impoverished neighborhoods of New York City’s Lower East Side. After working with numerous patients that were poor, immigrant women suffering the health consequences of botched abortions and repeated pregnancies (“Margaret Sanger,” n.d.). Seeing women suffer was the catalyst which brought about her belief that the ability to limit family size was an essential component to maintaining women’s health and breaking the cycle of poverty. Therefore, Margaret redirected her attention from nursing to advocating for the use and legalization of birth control and contraceptives (Margaret Sanger,” n.d.). During this time, it was illegal to provide contraceptives information due to the Comstock Act passed by Congress in 1873.

    Read More

More about Chapter Summary

Open Document