Book Review

摘要

In , Manon Parry departs from the traditionalnarrative of contraceptive history, which focuses on leaders and organisations, to shed lighton an underexamined aspect of the story of family planning: its treatment in mainstreamAmerican popular culture, specifically in the media. One would imagine that such a privateaspect of women’s lives would not have had media exposure, especially in the pre-Second WorldWar era, when the Comstock Laws, for all intents and purposes, had enacted a moratorium on thediscussion and sharing of contraceptive knowledge. Yet, as Parry illustrates, birth controlhas a media history that spans the twentieth century, although not always self-evident orevenly documented.