Margaret Sanger was a pioneering advocate for birth control in the United States, along with Asia and Europe, during the 20th century. Review of her autobiography,
Margaret Sanger was a pioneering advocate for birth control in the United States, along with Asia and Europe, during the 20th century. In her autobiography, Margaret explains the many obstacles she had to overcome and what were her driving forces during her crusade for women's rights throughout the early to mid 20th century.
Margaret was born on September 14, 1879 in Corning, NY into a middle class family. She was sixth of the eleven children her mother gave birth to. Her father was an Irish-born stonemason who challenged the children to think. Margaret's father practiced Socialism because he believed it was the closest to the Christian philosophy. Margaret has also cited him as, "the spring from which she drank from". Her mother, a Catholic Irish-American, stayed at home with the children, which was expected of mothers during this period. At fifty Margaret's mother died from tuberculosis, although, Margaret believes it was the frequent birth that was the underlying cause to her death. Her two older sisters helped Margaret attend college in 1896 and then continued in a nursing program in 1900. During her work at the hospital as a nurse, she was always touched by the trust given to a nurse during the birth of a child. Soon after the birth, Margaret would be bombarded with questions, from various mothers, on what they could do to prevent having another child to soon. Besides her patients, even though her father disapproved of her being a nurse, the ideals, of generosity and equality, set by her father and the death of her mother along with their struggles financially in daily life were the underlying force that drove her. Margaret believed that the right to decide and choose when to have children was the key to independence, along with economic stability, for women.
In 1902, Margaret married and had three children. They moved to New York City by 1910, where she continued work as a visiting nurse, and joined a circle of intellectual activists. Liberals, Socialists, anarchists, and I.W.W.'s would meet in their living room to express their ideals for society. Margaret compares this time, pre-WWI, to the Renaissance where ideas flourished as everyone spoke about "new liberties". Margaret joined a Socialist Party in which someone had donated a sum of money towards the interest of women in Socialism. Margaret was chosen to help recruit new members among working women. A woman in the group asked Margaret to help her speak to a handful of women about labor. Margaret did not feel qualified enough to talk about labor but instead spoke to them about health. The women asked so many intimate questions about family life that Margaret told the woman, who asked her to go along with her to speak, about it. Together they decided to create an article for women to answer some common questions about sex, What Ever Girl Should Know (1912), which would be published in a newsletter named the Call. The article ran for only three or four weeks due to the Comstock laws, which the Post Office was able to enforce. She soon began to write again but was unable to include such information as STDs. Margaret was later asked, during a labor strike, to help with the children. This was Margaret's first encounter, in all her nursing in the slums, with children in such a ragged and "deplorable" a condition. Although Margaret tried to help wherever she could, she kept thinking that their must be something more she could do for the poor families who needed some kind of assistance in order to bring them out of the slums. She saw strikes as the need of man to support his family in a healthy condition. Furthermore, Margaret was resenting the fact that women were not being included in this new world everyone was trying to create. She believed people were overlooking the issue of quality when anyone spoke about life.
Margaret was born on September 14, 1879 in Corning, NY into a middle class family. She was sixth of the eleven children her mother gave birth to. Her father was an Irish-born stonemason who challenged the children to think. Margaret's father practiced Socialism because he believed it was the closest to the Christian philosophy. Margaret has also cited him as, "the spring from which she drank from". Her mother, a Catholic Irish-American, stayed at home with the children, which was expected of mothers during this period. At fifty Margaret's mother died from tuberculosis, although, Margaret believes it was the frequent birth that was the underlying cause to her death. Her two older sisters helped Margaret attend college in 1896 and then continued in a nursing program in 1900. During her work at the hospital as a nurse, she was always touched by the trust given to a nurse during the birth of a child. Soon after the birth, Margaret would be bombarded with questions, from various mothers, on what they could do to prevent having another child to soon. Besides her patients, even though her father disapproved of her being a nurse, the ideals, of generosity and equality, set by her father and the death of her mother along with their struggles financially in daily life were the underlying force that drove her. Margaret believed that the right to decide and choose when to have children was the key to independence, along with economic stability, for women.
In 1902, Margaret married and had three children. They moved to New York City by 1910, where she continued work as a visiting nurse, and joined a circle of intellectual activists. Liberals, Socialists, anarchists, and I.W.W.'s would meet in their living room to express their ideals for society. Margaret compares this time, pre-WWI, to the Renaissance where ideas flourished as everyone spoke about "new liberties". Margaret joined a Socialist Party in which someone had donated a sum of money towards the interest of women in Socialism. Margaret was chosen to help recruit new members among working women. A woman in the group asked Margaret to help her speak to a handful of women about labor. Margaret did not feel qualified enough to talk about labor but instead spoke to them about health. The women asked so many intimate questions about family life that Margaret told the woman, who asked her to go along with her to speak, about it. Together they decided to create an article for women to answer some common questions about sex, What Ever Girl Should Know (1912), which would be published in a newsletter named the Call. The article ran for only three or four weeks due to the Comstock laws, which the Post Office was able to enforce. She soon began to write again but was unable to include such information as STDs. Margaret was later asked, during a labor strike, to help with the children. This was Margaret's first encounter, in all her nursing in the slums, with children in such a ragged and "deplorable" a condition. Although Margaret tried to help wherever she could, she kept thinking that their must be something more she could do for the poor families who needed some kind of assistance in order to bring them out of the slums. She saw strikes as the need of man to support his family in a healthy condition. Furthermore, Margaret was resenting the fact that women were not being included in this new world everyone was trying to create. She believed people were overlooking the issue of quality when anyone spoke about life.
