Mary Kenny
Pregnancy Pauses
The Birth of the Pill: How Four Pioneers Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution
By Jonathan Eig
Macmillan 388pp £16.99
In the Family Way: Illegitimacy Between the Great War and the Swinging Sixties
By Jane Robinson
Viking 317pp £18.99
When Carl Djerassi, one of the inventors of the contraceptive pill, died earlier this year, the columnist Libby Purves wrote a thoughtful commentary looking at two sides of his creation: yes, it had helped women take control of their fertility; but had it also helped to usher in an era where young girls are under immense pressure to have sex and are subjected to casual porn via ‘sexting’?
Most of us find out, sooner or later, that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and that all benefits have some costs: even one of the most ardent early champions of the Pill, the formidable Margaret Sanger, recognised at the end of her life that the perfect contraceptive she had dreamed of did not deliver all the benefits she had hoped for: it did not reduce the divorce rate (both Sanger and Marie Stopes believed that reliable contraception would ensure happy marriages), and neither did it limit the number of abortions – Sanger, though a bold sexual radical from her girlhood, was opposed to abortion.
Sanger was also disappointed to learn that for some women, using the Pill reduced their libido. This was just one of the long-term effects of taking the Pill, some of which are overlooked in Jonathan Eig’s diligent book. There’s evidence to suggest that women on the Pill tend to choose
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk