(Ebook) Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States by Mark A. Largent ISBN 9780813541822, 0813541824

(Ebook) Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States by Mark A. Largent ISBN 9780813541822, 0813541824

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 notions and prejudices that had brought about thousands of coerced sterilizations decades ago.