A powerful resource for classrooms and individual readers alike, The Nursing Clio Reader invites reflection on how the past informs current debates, urging us to engage deeply with the history of reproductive justice in a time of unprecedented change.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Courts Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping federal protection for abortion rights and placing control in the hands of individual states. This monumental shift in policy underscores the need for deeper historical perspectives on reproductive rights.
The Nursing Clio Reader answers that call, bringing together essays that examine reproductive health through historical research and personal experience. Featuring both new and classic pieces from the Nursing Clio blog, leading historians of reproductive health provide insights that connect past struggles with todays ongoing battles over bodies, reproductive rights, and health care. This collection offers intimate, urgent scholarship that speaks to the present moment.
A powerful resource for classrooms and individual readers alike, The Nursing Clio Reader invites reflection on how the past informs current debates, urging us to engage deeply with the history of reproductive justice in a time of unprecedented change, underscoring that indeed "the personal is historical."
Recenzijas
"The Nursing Clio Reader highlights the struggle for sexual and reproductive freedom, the violation of groups and individuals' sexual and reproductive self-determination, and movements to fight against state control. The diversity of topics and viewpoints is outstanding, and it is similarly impressive how the editors were able to combine a diversity of viewpoints and experiences with intellectual cohesion, always turning the view back to state policies that limit the ability to control sex and reproduction." - Johanna Schoen (author of Abortion after Roe) "Like the website it comes from, The Nursing Clio Reader fills an enormous need. It brings together seasoned and up-and-coming scholars of gender and medicine to address large, thematic problems, rather than narrow politics of the moment. This volume will surely be as relevant in five or ten years as it is now." - Jennifer L. Holland (author of Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement)
Preface
Part I: Sex Introduction
Averill Earls
Sister Marianas Spyglass: The Unreliable Ghost of Female Desire in a
Convent Archive Anna Weerasinghe
"Unfortunate Attachments": Interracial Sapphism in Progressive Era
Reformatories and Prisons Cookie Woolner
Sex isnt just having babies: Sex Education for Children and Adolescents
with Intellectual Disabilities in the US, 1960s-1970s
John Carranza
PrEP, The Pill, and the Fear of Promiscuity Ian Lekus
How to Do It: Sex Education and the Sex Life Joseph Gamble
Part II: Contraception Introduction
Lauren MacIvor Thompson
Birth Control on Display; Or, What Do I Do With All These IUDs? Amanda
Mahoney
IUDs and Their Legacy in China Sarah Mellors Rodriguez The Womens
Health Movement and the Dream of the Diaphragm Lea Eisenstein
Just a Pinch: Pain, IUDs, and Consciousness-Raising Evan Hart
The Pills
Kelly ODonnell
Part III: Pregnancy Introduction
Scottie Buehler
Where a Pregnancy Can Last for Years: The Remarkable Colonial Reports of
Sleeping Pregnancies in the Maghreb
Nina S. Studer
Eugenic Babies and the Dark History of Sperm Donations Karen Weingarten
How I Met My Mother: The Story of an Unexpected Pregnancy Catherine Denial
Midwives and Pregnant Transgender Men: Laboring Towards Ethical Care
Elizabeth Reis
Part IV: Abortion Introduction
Alicia Gutierrez-Romine
Pigeons and Blasphemy: Tracing Abortion in Colonial Courtrooms Mary Fissell
Coat Hangers and Knitting Needles: A Brief History of Self-Induced
Abortion Sarah Pripas-Kapit
The Miseries and Heartbreak of Backstreet Abortions: Before and After Roe
Gillian Frank and Ronit Y. Stahl
What Feminists Did the Last Time Abortion Was Illegal Michelle Moravec
Who Roe Failed: Class and Race in Abortion Before Dobbs Katrina Kimport
Retirement Life: Escorting Clinic Patients Janet Golden
Part V: Loss Introduction
Ciara Breathnach
The Evidence of Infanticide Felicity Turner
Maternal Grief in Black and White: Enslaved Mothers and Antislavery
Literature on the Eve of War
Cassandra Berman
Infant and Child Mortality and Black Activism in the Progressive Era
Elizabeth Garner Masarik
Historicizing Stillbirth Kirsten Leng On Mothers Who Kill and the
Racialization of Postpartum Mental Illness Udodiri R. Okwandu
Enforcing Death Rituals after Miscarriage is Just Plain Cruel Lara
Freidenfelds
Part VI: Childbirth Introduction
Judith Walzer Leavitt
How My Postpartum Guilt Was Healed by a 17th-Century Poet Elizabeth
Kolkovich
What to Expect When Youre Expiring: Pregnancy and Death in
Seventeenth-Century England Maggie Vinter
"For Serving as Midwife": Enslaved Women and Networks of Care in
Revolutionary America Sara Collini
Is Childbirth Painful? Or, a Short History of Medicine and Culture Nora
Doyle
Constructing the Modern American Midwife: White Supremacy and White Feminism
Collide
P. Mimi Niles and Michelle Drew
The Magic Liquid that Guarantees the Life of the Infant Breast Milk as a
Superfood Theresa Ventura
Part VII: Violence Introduction
Kylie Smith
The Black Politics of Eugenics Ayah Nuriddin
Training Future Wives and Mothers: Vocational Education and Assimilation at
the Stewart Indian School
Samantha M. Williams
The Torture Began: Symphysiotomy and Obstetric Violence in Modern Ireland
Cara Delay
What Do You Think Im Worth?: Forced Sterilization in Post-World War II
America Rebecca Kluchin
When the War on Rape Met the War on Crime: A Black Womens Perspective
Caitlin Wiesner
The Stain of Slavery Is Silencing Sexual Violence Against Black and Brown
Women Sharon Folkenroth Hess
Consent-To-Yes and Pelvic Healthcare Examinations Stephanie Tillman
If they were white and insured, would they have died?: Contextualizing the
2022 Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Report
Udodiri R. Okwandu
Part VIII: Justice Introduction
Susan Reverby
Why We Need the Pink Triangle in the Era of Dont Say Gay Jake Newsome
Silence and Noise: What AIDS Activism and Social Memory Can Teach Us
Sarah Swedberg
The Sex Lady Talks: Disability Rights and the Normalization of Sex in a
1980s Institution Elizabeth A. Nelson, Emily S. Beckman, and Modupe Labode
Talking Back to the NIH
J. Nalubega Ross
The Politics of US-Mexico Border Rule and Reproductive (In)Justice
Lina-Maria Murillo
Sovereignty Over Our Own Bodies: The Women of All Red Nations and Indigenous
Reproductive Activism
Brianna Theobald
Deep in the Heartbeat of Texas Kathleen Crowther Acknowledgments
About the Editors
Notes on Contributors Index
Preface vii
Part I SEX 1
Introduction 3
Averill Earls
Sister
Marianas Spyglass: The Unreliable Ghost of Female Desire
in a Convent Archive 8
Anna Weerasinghe
Unfortunate Attachments: Interracial Sapphism in Progressive Era
Reformatories and Prisons 12
Cookie Woolner
Sex Isnt
Just Having Babies . . .: Sex Education for Children
and Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities in the United States,
1960s1970s 17
John A. Carranza
PrEP, the Pill, and the Fear of Promiscuity 22
Ian Lekus
How to Do It: Sex Education and the Sex Life 29
Joseph Gamble
Part II CONTRACEPTION 33
Introduction 35
Lauren MacIvor Thompson
Birth Control on Display, or What Do I Do with All These
IUDs? 39
Amanda L. Mahoney
IUDs and Their Legacy in China 46
Sarah Mellors Rodriguez
The Womens
Health Movement and the Dream of the Diaphragm 51
Lea Eisenstein
Just a Pinch: Pain, IUDs, and Consciousness-Raising
56
Evan Elizabeth Hart
The Pills 61
Kelly ODonnell
Part III PREGNANCY 65
Introduction 67
Scottie Hale Buehler
Where a Pregnancy Can Last for Years: The Remarkable Colonial Reports
of Sleeping Pregnancies in the Maghreb 73
Nina S. Studer
Eugenic Babies and the Dark History of Sperm Donations 79
Karen Weingarten
How I Met My Mother:
The Story of an Unexpected Pregnancy 84
Catherine J. Denial
Midwives and Pregnant Transgender Men: Laboring Toward
Ethical Care 89
Elizabeth Reis
Part IV ABORTION 93
Introduction 95
Alicia Gutierrez-Romine
Pigeons and Blasphemy: Tracing Abortion in Early America
100
Mary Fissell
Coat Hangers and Knitting Needles:
A Brief History of
Self-Induced
Abortion 105
Sarah Pripas-Kapit
The Miseries and Heartbreaks of Backstreet Abortions:
Before and after
Roe 109
Gillian Frank and Ronit Y. Stahl
What Feminists Did the Last Time Abortion Was Illegal 116
Michelle Moravec
Who Roe Failed: Class and Race in Abortion before Dobbs 121
Katrina Kimport
Retirement Life: Escorting Abortion Clinic Patients 125
Janet Golden
Part V LOSS 129
Introduction 131
Ciara Breathnach
The Evidence of Infanticide 136
Felicity M. Turner
Maternal Grief in Black and White: Enslaved Mothers
and
Antislavery Literature
on the Eve of War 141
Cassandra Berman
Infant and Child Mortality and Black Activism in the Progressive Era 146
Elizabeth Garner Masarik
Historicizing Stillbirth 150
Kirsten Leng
On Mothers
Who Kill and the Racialization of Postpartum Mental
Illness 156
Udodiri R. Okwandu
Enforcing Death Rituals after
Miscarriage Is Just Plain Cruel 162
Lara Freidenfelds
No One Has the Same Forty Weeks 165
Shannon Withycombe
Part VI CHILDBIRTH 169
Introduction 171
Judith Walzer Leavitt
How My Postpartum Guilt Was Healed by a Seventeenth-Century
Poet 176
Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich
What to Expect When Youre
Expiring: Pregnancy and Death
in Seventeenth-Century
England
181
Maggie Vinter
For Serving as Midwife: Enslaved Women
and Networks
of Care in Revolutionary Maryland
186
Sara Collini
Is Childbirth Painful? Or, A Short History of Medicine and Culture 190
Nora Doyle
Constructing the Modern American Midwife: White Supremacy
and White Feminism Collide 195
P. Mimi Bhatt and Michelle Drew
The Magic Liquid That Guarantees the Life of the Infant:
Breast Milk as a Superfood 199
Theresa Ventura
Part VII VIOLENCE
205
Introduction 207
Kylie M. Smith
The Black Politics of Eugenics 211
Ayah Nuriddin
Training Future
Wives and Mothers:
Vocational Education and
Assimilation at the Stewart Indian School 215
Samantha M. Williams
The Torture Began: Symphysiotomy and Obstetric Violence
in Modern Ireland 221
Cara Delay
What Do You Think Im Worth? Forced Sterilization in
PostWorld
War II America
225
Rebecca Kluchin
When the War on Rape Met the War on Crime: A Black Womens
Perspective 230
Caitlin Reed Wiesner
The Stain of Slavery Is Silencing Sexual Violence
against
Black and Brown Women
235
Sharon Folkenroth Hess
Consent-to-
Yes
and Pelvic Healthcare Examinations 240
Stephanie Tillman
If They Were
White and Insured, Would They Have Died?:
Contextualizing the 2022 Texas Maternal Mortality
and Morbidity Report 245
Udodiri R. Okwandu
Part VIII JUSTICE 251
Introduction 253
Susan M. Reverby
Why We Need the Pink Triangle in the Era of Dont
Say Gay 257
W. Jake Newsome
Silence and Noise: What AIDS Activism and Social Memory
Can or Cant
Teach Us 263
Sarah Swedberg
The Sex Lady Talks: Disability Rights and the Normalization
of Sex in a 1980s Institution 268
Elizabeth A. Nelson, Emily S. Beckman, and Modupe Labode
Talking Back to the National Institutes of Health 272
J. Nalubega Ross
The Politics of U.S.-Mexico
Border Rule and Reproductive (In)Justice 276
Lina-Maria
Murillo
Sovereignty over Our Own Bodies: The Women
of All Red Nations
and Indigenous Reproductive Activism 282
Brianna Theobald
Deep in the Heartbeat of Texas 287
Kathleen Crowther
Acknowledgments
293
About the Editors 295
Notes on Contributors 297
Index 000
JACQUELINE D. ANTONOVICH is an assistant professor of history at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is the co-founder and executive editor of Nursing Clio, a peer-reviewed blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day issues related to gender, health, and medicine.
SARAH E. HANDLEY-COUSINS is a historian, writer, and podcaster located in Buffalo, New York. Her first book, Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North, was released by UGA Press in July 2019. She is an associate teaching professor of history at the University at Buffalo. She is also an editor for the history blog Nursing Clio and producer for Dig: A History Podcast.
LAURA ANSLEY is managing editor of the American Historical Association, where she manages Perspectives on History, the AHA's booklets, the annual meeting program, and other publications. She is co-facilitator of the Humanities and Social Sciences Publishing Professionals community of interest for the Society of Scholarly Publishing.
