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Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States

by Mark Largent

Rutgers University Press, 2011
eISBN: 978-0-8135-7756-2 | Cloth: 978-0-8135-4182-2 | Paper: 978-0-8135-4998-9
Library of Congress Classification HV4989.L275 2008
Dewey Decimal Classification 363.97

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Most closely associated with the Nazis and World War II atrocities, eugenics is sometimes described as a government-orchestrated breeding program, other times as a pseudo-science, and often as the first step leading to genocide. Less frequently it is recognized as a movement having links to theUnited States. But eugenics does have a history in this country, and Mark A. Largent tells that story by exploring one of its most disturbing aspects, the compulsory sterilization of more than 64,000 Americans.

The book begins in the mid-nineteenth century, when American medical doctors began advocating the sterilization of citizens they deemed degenerate. By the turn of the twentieth century, physicians, biologists, and social scientists championed the cause, and lawmakers in two-thirds of the United States enacted laws that required the sterilization of various criminals, mental health patients, epileptics, and syphilitics. The movement lasted well into the latter half of the century, and Largent shows how even today the sentiments that motivated coerced sterilization persist as certain public figures advocate compulsory birth control—such as progesterone shots for male criminals or female welfare recipients—based on the same assumptions and motivations that had brought about thousands of coerced sterilizations decades ago.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Mark A. Largent is an associate professor of science policy and the director of the Science, Technology, Environment, and Public Policy Specialization at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He is the editor of the Studies in Modern Science, Technology, and the Environment series published by Rutgers University Press.

REVIEWS

"A deeply researched and richly nuanced account of the methods and motives that shaped this dark chapter in American history—and that continue to haunt contemporary debates."

— Leila Zenderland, author of Measuring Minds

"Mark Largent's account of more than a century of involvement of leading Americans in coerced sterilization movements is disturbing and provocative."

— Philip J. Pauly, author of Biologists and the Promise of American Life

"The history of eugenics has enjoyed increasing scholarly attention over the past ten years. Mark A. Largent's book contributes to this rejuvenated literature with a narrative that skillfully follows the history of coerced sterilization in the United States from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Largent's history reveals how campaigns in favor of sterilization extended well beyond the rise and fall of the mainstream eugenics movement."

— American Historical Review

"An important and thoughtful book that pushes scholars to view the relationship between eugenics and coercive sterilization more carefully and to reconsider the impact that American professionals other than biologists had on popular ideas about and social policy governing reproductive fitness."

— Journal of the History of Biology

"A well-researched, thoughtful and accessible history of forced sterilization in the USA. Breeding Contempt has much to commend it. The breadth of research and its clear writing make it an essential contribution to the history of science in the USA. Its slim size and accessible arguments make it especially useful for undergraduates, and its careful attention to the complexity of sterilization—involving medicine, biology, and the coercive power of the state—raises many important and difficult questions about this largely unknown aspect of American history."

— Social History of Medicine

"Breeding Contempt is a useful contribution to a growing scholarly literature
on eugenics and sterilization in the U.S."

— Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

"Largent gives the fullest account to date of the tens of thousands of sterilizations performed in the United States, and in disentangling this history from the maligned eugenics movement, he reveals the varying motivations behind the practice over the last 150 years."

— Bulletin of the History of Medicine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
A Word about Terminology
Coerced Sterilizations in the United States
Breeding Contempt
1. Nipping the Problem in the Bud
The Memorial
Targeting Women
The Crime Against Nature
The First Opposition to Coerced Sterilization
Racism and Castration
Enter the Vasectomy
Medical Doctors as Advocates for Compulsory Sterilization Laws
New Allies Emerge
2. Eugenics and the Professionalization of American Biology
Charles Davenport and the American Biology
Davenport as Institution Builder
Davenport as Researcher
The American Breeders Association
The Eugenics Record Office
A Eugenicist, But Not an Advocate of Compulsory Sterilization
3. The Legislative Solution
From Marriage Restriction to Compulsory Sterilization
The Tenacity of Compulsory Sterilization Law Advocates
The Nation's First Sterilization Law: Indiana
Coerced Sterilization Without a Compulsory Sterilization Law
General Trends in the History of Compulsory Sterilization in the U.S.
Court Challenges to Compulsory Sterilization Laws
The Vas Deferens is Not Enough
4. Buck v. Bell and the First Organized Resistance to Coerced Sterilization
Voices of Opposition before Buck
"Three Generations of Imbeciles . . ."
Catholics and Coerced Sterilization
The Most Dangerous Ally
5. The Professions Retreat
Early Professional Resistance to Compulsory Sterilization
Neurologists Confront Compulsory Sterilization
Catholic Critiques Go Mainstream
American Physicians End Their Advocacy of Compulsory Sterilization
Biologists: The Last American Eugenicists
Writing the History of Coerced Sterilization
Conclusion: The New Coerced Sterilization Movement
Coerced Sterilization Today
Conclusion
Appendices
	Appendix A: Chart of Total Sterilizations by Year, 1907-1980
Appendix B: Table of Sterilizations in Each State, 1921-1980
	Appendix C: Bibliography of Twentieth-Century American Biology Textbooks
Notes
Bibliography
Court Cases
Archival Sources
Internet Sources
Published Sources
Index

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