Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, all the best. Did you know that it used to be

illegal for married couples to use birth control? Did you know that the Supreme Court only overturned

state's laws prohibiting birth control 55 years ago? I did not know that until I did some research in preparation for today's texts.

We will be discussing Margaret Sanger's 1918 essay, The Morality of Birth Control, and her 1934 essay,

the case for birth control. And here I just want to begin by emphasizing

that this project at Breaking Down Patriarchy

highlights essential texts that describe the construct

of patriarchy and the critiques that have challenged

it throughout history.

During each episode, we include a biography of the author

of the text we're discussing, but that's only

to give background and context to the important piece of writing that the person produced.

There are other podcasts out there whose purpose is to tell the stories of amazing women,

like History Chicks is a really great one that I've listened to, Encyclopedia Womanica, and

what's her name, are all really excellent podcasts that are biography-centric. But our project

is about important documents on a historical timeline. And in some ways, the author of a certain

text might not necessarily be exemplary. And I some ways, the author of a certain text might not necessarily be

exemplary. And I say this because the author of this week's text, Margaret Sanger, is a controversial

figure. She was an American birth control activist, a sex educator, a writer, and a nurse working

in the World War I era and the 1920s and 30s

and beyond in the 40s and 50s as well. She popularized the term birth control,

opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations

...