Contraception is not an invention of modern times, nor is it a purely personal matter. Social institutions such as the church and the state have exerted their influence as effectively as doctors, population theorists, and the early pioneers of the feminist movement. All of these claim a special expertise in matters of ethics and morality, and so have shaped the discourses on and practices of birth control over the centuries.

Contents Foreword XX Introduction XX Ars erotica: the early arts of birth control XX The Economics of Sexual Reproduction: birth control in the ancient world? XX - Calls for greater Fertility: origins of the reproduction ethic in Judaism, Christianity and Islam XX - The not so secret Lore of Ancient Medicine XX - Poetic Truth: deliberate infertility as a theme in ancient literature XX - Unfruitful Activities: "suppositories for women" and herbal potions XX Transformations: the supposed repression of birth control knowledge in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times XX A History of Demographics and the Origins of Birth Control XX - Secreta mulierum: female lore on pregnancy and birth control XXX - Sexual Desire and Atonement: a theology of "the sinful flesh" XXX - Castration, Condoms, Casanovas: techniques of birth control old and new XXX The Commencement of scientia sexualis in the 19th century: the effects of moral and political imperatives on the discourse on birth control XXX (Neo-) Malthusianism and its Implications for Demographics XXX - A fresh approach to knowledge: educational sex brochures and their readers XXX - Sexual politics: intensified control and its counter resistance XXX - The practice of "being careful" - between tradition and progress XXX A Day to Day Regime: the "democratisation" of birth control in the 20th century A Promise of Deliverance: the "nationalisation" of birth control: enforced sterilisation and national birth control programmes XXX - Sexual Morality in Transition and the waning Influence of Religion XXX - synchronicity and the asynchronous: birth control techniques old and new XXX Future Prospects "A contraceptive Pill for men" - the contraceptive of the future XXX Notes XXX - Bibliography XXX