List of illustrations
Illustration acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1. Ars erotica : the early art of contraception
The economics of sexual reproduction : birth control in the ancient world?
Calls for greater fertility : origin of the ethics of procreation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
The not so secret wisdom of ancient medicine
Poetic truth : deliberate infertility as a theme in ancient literature
Unfruitful activities : 'suppositories for women' and herbal potions
2. Transformations : the supposed repression of knowledge about contraception in the Middle Ages and early modern times
A history of demographics and the origins of birth control
Secreta mulierum : female wisdom on pregnancy and contraception
Sexual desire and atonement : the theology of the 'sinful flesh'
Castration, condoms, Casanovas : old and new methods of contraception


3. The beginnings of scientia sexualis in the nineteenth century : the impact of moral and political imperatives on the debate about contraception
(Neo)Malthusianism and its demographical implications
A fresh approach to knowledge : sex education pamphlets and their readers
Sexual politics : intensified control and resistance to it
The practice of 'being careful' : between tradition and progress
4. An everyday regime : the 'democratization' of birth control in the twentieth century
The promise of deliverance : contraception as emancipation
The 'nationalization' of contraception : enforced sterilization and national birth control programmes
Changes in sexual morality and the waning influence of religion
Simultaneous existence of old and new methods of contraception
5. Future prospects
The 'pill for men' : the contraceptive of the future?
Notes
Bibliography
Index.