Written by student of Women's History Resource Site, 1998
Last Revision: 18 December 2001
Copyright © MMI Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site
Women in every country have long struggled and still continue to struggle for change and improvements in the birth control that is available to them. They questioned the existing policies and methods and did whatever was in their power to reform them. Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform, examines the struggle that German women took on to improve their condition in Germany from 1920 to 1950. During the Weimar Republic, women in Germany began to assert themselves in the quest for sex reform. These reformers sought to satisfy the needs and concerns of the "new women" who had emerged in Germany. These new women had to be capable of managing housework, sexuality, maternity, and wage earning. Many women as well as men, saw the answer to their problems, in the birth control and sexual education movements. More extremists found their answer in legalizing abortion.
The forerunners of sex reform in Germany followed the ideas and practices of birth control activist, Margaret Sanger of the United States. Sanger was not only a role model for the new movement but also a major supporter. Sex reformers undertook the practical work of establishing birth control and sex advice counseling centers that took as their motto, "better to prevent than to abort." By April 1928, the Committee for Birth Control, inspired by Sanger, was well on its way.
Many birth control clinics and sexual education counseling centers were financially supported through the national public health and social insurance system. Abortion was another issue of concern for the sex reformers. Article 218, which forbade abortion in Germany, received criticism and attack. Reformers argued that, legal and constitutional equality, even equality in education and employment, was a sham if women were victimized by "constitutional inferiority" and could not control their own bodies. This anti Article 218 campaign began in the 1930's. This was a period in history, during which the world was suffering during a depression. Families found it difficult to raise the children that they already had, few could afford to have any more.
The end of the 1930's presented a new problem. At this time the Nazi party took control of Germany and began to destroy policies and practices of the Weimar Republic. The Nazi Gleichschaltung, was the smashing of working-class and sex reform organizations in the winter and spring of 1933, and the cumulative effects of anti-Semetic and racial hygiene legislation from 1933 to 1935. The goals of urban social hygiene shifted from the regulation and treatment of the sick, needy, and dependent to the coercive elimination of the "unfit" and mobilization of the "fit." Many of these so called "unfit" underwent forced sterilization during the reign of the Nazi's. They were determined to rid Germany of undesirables and perfect the desirable "master" Aryan race.
The Weimar, sex reformers had to take drastic measures because their work had been dismantled and ruined. Their actions forced many of them into exile. Many of them came to the United States. These reformers encountered new troubles and problems here. Women, especially, experienced a major change of lifestyle. The United Sates meant not only domesticization as a woman but also the deradicalization as a sex reformer. Women were expected to be their husbands helpers, at best, not professionals in their own right. German women experienced a transition from a working woman into the devoted mother and wife. Job opportunities were scarce and unconventional for women in America.
After World War II, Germany was once again faced with the problems it had sought to remedy during the Weimar Republic. The plight of the sex reformers, came to an abrupt end. They would have to rebuild and start their battle once more. To this day the issue of Article 218 remains unresolved. The newly reunified Germany had to address this issue.
Atina Grossmann takes a historical approach in examining the existing conditions in Germany that led to the call for sex reform. She focuses on the facts and testimony given by the women themselves and those who fought to help them. Grossmann makes some reference to other countries and the accomplishments the reformers made there. Grossmann is clearly intrigued with Margaret Sanger and the birth control movement in the United States. In spite of these few references the book is clearly aimed at describing the conditions in Germany.
Her analysis of the Nazi's makes it evident that she places a great deal of blame for the problems of women on them. She clearly points out how programs that were making progress were dissolved and abandoned. Or worse, they were twisted into programs, which would solely benefit Nazi goals, such as forced sterilization. After the war German sex reform would never be the same as it was during the Weimar Republic.
The end of the book contains an extensive section with hundreds of endnotes, which prove Grossmann's work is well researched. In addition to the endnotes, the book also includes a comprehensive index available to assist the reader. A section containing six full pages of photographs and art work also helps to illustrate the time periods mentioned and the lives in which these women led.
Perhaps the author may have continued to explore the sex reform movement in modern Germany. The book is clearly only concerned with the years 1920 to 1950. There are some later dates mentioned, but no real information, research, and statistics are made available. The story seems to come to an abrupt end with questions to the status of present day sex reform remaining unanswered.
Overall Grossman clearly presents an excellent picture of German women and their struggle to reform in an area which is primarily a concern of women. Her research is presented in a way that historically relates to the world in the time frame presented. Solid evidence supports her story of the achievements and changes of sex reform and the factors, which would eventually undermine the work that was done. Although they have faced a great deal of defeat the reformers still struggle for changes today.
Bailey, S. Review of Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform, by Atina Grossmann. Choice, November 1995, 522.
Bailey's review is short in length. He briefly touches upon the goals of the sex reform during the Weimar Republic and their concerns over Article 218 and the issue of abortion. Bailey mentions some of the Nazi's techniques, which were used to destroy the sex reformers' work, and how their struggle continues today. Bailey does not make any opinion that would suggest he liked, or disliked this work. He focuses more on facts than opinion.
Schissler, Hanna. Review on Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform. by Atina Grossmann. Central European Quarterly, April 1995, 567.
Schissler provides an excellent in depth review of Grossmann's work. She carefully examines the main chapters and focuses upon their central theses. She references the achievements as well as the disappointments of the reform movement. Schisssler is also interested in the change of life experienced by many of the sex reformers, who were exiled, especially to the United States. She refers to Grossmann's work as "thorough and exciting."
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URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/reviewgrossman.html Written by student of Women's History Resource Site, 1998 Last Revision: 18 December 2001 Copyright © MMI Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site |