The Politics of the Body in Weimar Germany: Women’s Reproductive Rights and Duties

339 Pages·1992·33.958 MB·English

by  Cornelie Usborne (auth.)

THE POUTIes OF THE BODY IN WEIMAR
GERMANY
STUDIES IN GENDER HISTORY
Recent years have shown that the study of gender is too irnportant
to be ignored. By challenging long-accepted approaches, cat
egories and priorities, gender history has necessitated nothing less
than a change in the historical terrain. Studies in Gender History
seeks to publish the latest and best research, which continues to
res tore wornen to his tory and his tory to wornen, and to encourage
the developrnent of a new channel of scholarship.
Published titles
Jutta Schwarzkopf
WOMEN IN THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT
Cornelie Usborne
THE POLITICS OF THE BODY IN WEIMAR GERMANY
The Politics of the
Body in Weimar
Germany
Women's Reproductive Rights and
Duties
CORNELIE USBORNE
Lecturer in European History
Roehampton Institute, London
palgrave
macmiLlan
ce Cornelie Usborne 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1992
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Usborne, Cornelie
The politics of the body in Weimar Germany
Women's reproquctive rights and duties.
I. Titte
363.90943
ISBN 978-1-349-12246-2 ISBN 978-1-349-12244-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12244-8
Ta my mather
Marlene Tücking
(1919-84)
Contents
List 01 Plates and Tables ix
Pr~ace ~
Abbreviations Used in Main Text xix
INTRODUCTION Historieal Background to the Population
Debate 1
Radal hygiene and SodaI Darwinism 4
Neo-Malthusianism 6
The 'birth-strike' episode in 1913 8
Pronatalism and the early Prussian population poliey 10
Population poliey during the First World War 16
1 MATERNITY Production versus Reproduetion: The Left's
Response to the Population Question 31
The post-war 'demographie crisis' 31
Economic support for mothers 43
Ideology of motherhood 53
2 SEXUALITY The Battle against Sexual Immorality: The
Right's Response to the Population Question 69
Moral panic after the war 69
The 'crisis of the family' 81
3 CONTRACEPTION A Cure for the Body Politie 102
Sodal hygiene and sex reform 102
Racial hygiene 133
4 ABORTION Politics and Medicine 156
Abortion in the politieal arena 156
The medical discourse 181
vii
viii Contents
CONCLUSIONS 202
Continuity and change 204
The hidden agenda 206
Progress in birth control 207
Maternity welfare and ideology 209
Reproductive self-determination? 211
Appendix 1 Abortion Legislation and Penal Reform 214
Appendix 2 Parliamentary Motions and Bills for Abortion
Reform 217
Appendix 3 Motions to Tighten the Regulation of Birth Control
and to Stimulate the Birth-Rate 220
Notes 221
Select Bibliography 266
Index 293
List of Plates and Tables
Tables
1 Vital trends, 1851 to 1939 2
2 Average number of children born per marriage, date
of marriage and profession 33
Plates
1 Helene Stöcker (1869-1943), feminist and sex reformer, padfist
and leader of the Bund für Mutterschutz (League for the
Protection of Mothers). (Ifis)
2 Adelegation of German women politidans in the Uni ted States
to discuss women's rights, 6 October 1925: Toni Pfülf (SPD),
Louise Schrreder (SPD), Christi ne Teusch (Z), Clara Mende
(DVP), Thusnelda Lang-Brumann (BVP). (Bildarchiv Preussischer
Kulturbesitz)
3 Adele Schreiber (1872-1957), advocate for women's rights, sex
reformer and SPD Reichstag delegate in 1920-4 and 1928-32.
(Fr Hause)
, 4 SPD posters for the 1919 election of the National Assembly.
The text reads: 'Mother! Think of me! Vote for the SodaI
Democrats!' (Ullstein Bilderdienst)
5 DNVP poster for the 1920 election to the first Reichstag. The
text reads: 'Your future is at stake. Vote for the German
Nationals' (Ullstein Bilderdienst)
6 DDP poster for the election in May 1928. The text reads:
'Women! if you care for housing, prosperity, education, vote
for the German Democrats!' (Bundesarchiv)
7 Young women in front of the Brandenburg Gate. (Ullstein
Bilderdienst)
8 Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), the first commissar of sodal
welfare in the Bolshevik government of 1918. Her writings on
sex reform were very influential in Weimar Germany. (I fis)
9 Cartoon by Kar! Arnold of the new masculinised woman in
front of Ladies' and Gents' lavatories. The caption reads: 'Lotte
Must Dedde!'
10 Poster design by Julius Engelhardt, for the campaign Die
ix
x List of Plates and Tables
schwarze Schmach (The black shame). It was not used because it
was deemed too sexually explicit (Bundesarchiv).
11 'Medusa in Chains': the names of the snakes include those of
alleged Jewish sex criminals and of the sexologist Magnus
Hirschfeld. Illustration from the National Socialist smear sheet
Der Stürmer.
12 The Talmudist: 'The Goy's Temple is our Toilet.' Illustration
from Der Stürmer.
13 Front cover of Die Kommunistin, 1 September 1922. The caption
reads: 'Woman as Merchandise! Boss: "WeIl, my dear child,
your testimonials and recommendations are all very weIl. I
have no job for you. But if you want to become my private
secretary I can offer you a job with double the salary!"'
14 The Berlin dancer Anita Berber. (Elefanten Press)
15 The New Woman of Weimar Germany. (Elefanten Press)
16 The artist Rene Sintenis with her girlfriend. (Ullstein Bilder
dienst)
17 Max Hodann (1894-1946), socialist doctor and sex reformer.
(lfis)
18 Cover of an early edition of Fritz Brupbacher's famous birth
control manual.
19 KPD poster advertising a pro-abortion se rial in Die Neue Zei
tung (1928). The headline reads: 'Women who no longer want
to be mothers.' (Bundesarchiv)
20 Demonstration against articIe 218 of the abortion law,
19 August 1928, in Leipzig. It was organised by the Commu
nist Rotfrontkämpferbund. (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz)
21 Posters for Carl Crede's play Paragraph 218: Tortured People,
staged by Erwin Piscator in Berlin, April 1930. The illustrations
are by Käthe Kollwitz.
22 Scene from the abortion drama Cyankali by Friedrich Wolf
(Berlin, 1929).
23 Cover-design for Felix Theilhaber' s abortion pamphlet
'Motherhood in Need', published by the Reich's League for
Birth Control and Sex Reform, c.1930.