Photo of Margaret Sanger from the Library of Congress.
The Harpy Hall of Fame is dedicated to those women who worked on behalf of advancing women’s rights, contributed to reshaping gender roles, or were just generally awesome and badass. Unstinting in their desire to achieve their goals, these remarkable women left legacies that continue to resonate today.
“No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.”—Margaret Sanger
Born Margaret Higgins in a free-thinking family in upstate New York, Sanger’s parents were activists for women’s suffrage, free education and socialism. But they were working class, and Irish Catholic, and as the sixth of eleven children, Margaret Sanger spent much of her early life caring for her younger siblings. Witnessing her mother’s death at age 40, after 18 pregnancies, stayed with her for the rest of her life.
Sanger moved to New York City as a married woman, and worked as a nurse midwife in slums of the Lower East Side. Appalled by the constant influx of patients suffering and dying from sexually transmitted diseases, botched abortions and back-to-back pregnancies, Sanger took action, distributing a pamphlet called Family Limitation, and writing a column for the New York Call entitled “What Every Girl Should Know.” She not only advocated contraception, she attacked both church and state for refusing to acknowledge the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and accused the Patriarchy of deliberately keeping women ignorant about them. For her efforts, Sanger was repeatedly jailed for violating 1873′s Comstock Law, which outlawed the distribution of all contraceptive information and devices (naturally, the Comstock law created a thriving black market in condoms, douches and suppositories). In 1914 she fled the country to avoid prosecution for mailing contraceptive information. But even then, Sanger never gave up; while in exile in Holland, she learned about a new form of contraceptive—the diaphragm—and arranged to have them smuggled into the US.
On October 16, 1916, Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, the first of its kind in the United States. Police raided it nine days later and Sanger served 30 days in prison. After 1918, when a ruling exempted physicians from the law banning distribution of contraceptive information, Sanger made it her goal to involve the medical establishment in her fight for contraception. With the help of her wealthy supporters, including John D. Rockefeller, Sanger opened the first legal birth control clinic, one staffed entirely by female doctors and social workers. She founded the American Birth Control League in 1921. The League eventually merged with Sanger’s Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau to form today’s Planned Parenthood. It was Margaret Sanger who coined the terms “birth control” and “family planning.”
In recent years Margaret Sanger has been attacked as a racist and eugenicist—and, indeed, some of her writings about race are indefensible—and for her radical socialism (she was an ally of anarchist Emma Goldman). But Sanger’s commitment to a woman’s right to control her own fertility and protect her health is unimpeachable, and has done nothing but benefit the lives of women worldwide. If you take the Pill, use a diaphragm, have an IUD, buy condoms, have ever read a book on women’s health or even just skimmed a pamphlet in an ob-gyn’s office, you have Margaret Sanger to thank. Without her, all those things might still be illegal.
In 2000, Time Magazine named Margaret Sanger one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. Gloria Steinem’s accompanying essay read:
“Indeed, she lived as if she and everyone else had the right to control her or his own life. By word and deed, she pioneered the most radical, humane and transforming political movement of the century.”
Becky, not trying to hijack this discussion but I was struck how the clinic she opened was staffed with entirely female doctors and social workers. I was wondering how others felt about seeing a male gynecologist. I have never, and I think I’d be uncomfortable and not just because of “oh its a man looking at my vagina” but because I feel like a woman is inherently more respectful of specifically womens health issues.
(sorry if this is not appropriate feel free to tell me to shut up)
No, don’t worry! Margaret Sanger would want us to talk freely about this kind of thing!
I have never been to a male ob-gyn. Not because I’m body-shy but because I agree that women are generally more respectful of women’s health and also they just KNOW what’s up. I mean, if I say, “Yeah, I’m having this itching/burning/cramping” I think they’ll understand better b/c they have the same set of organs.
That said, I’ve had some bad experiences with female ob-gyns and I know women who absolutely love their male ob-gyns, so there’s no blanket rule, just what each individual feels comfortable with. I do think in Sanger’s time the difference between the way female doctors and male doctors treated women patients was enormous, especially when it came to women’s health.
18 pregnancies? I just can’t imagine that. That would probably spur me to action too. Just one was difficult enough.
@bluebears: When I was pregnant, my OB was a man and, yes, he came to know my body quite intimately. And I had some doubts at first, but he was absolutely fantastic.
I’ve had both male and female gynos and whilst I am a little more comfortable asking the women personal catbag-related questions, I wasn’t uncomfortable with the men. And I’m pretty sure they’re required to have female nurses or assistants in the room whilst examining you.
Becky, Sarah: yeah, I totally agree, I’m sure its a case by case basis and male OB-GYNs can be great and women can be not so great (had a few bad experiences myself). I just personally feel it would be more difficult for a man to fully appreciate womens health issues although its entirely possible that in this day and age men are just simply better educated because of the proliferation of women in the field.
@bluebears: Yeah, I agree and I think there’s also a crucial distinction between OBs and GYNs in that sense, because pregnancy is such a distinct subset of women’s health that even female OBs who have not been pregnant would not be much better equipped to understand certain gestational experiences than male OBs. Does that make sense?
@sarah.of.a.lesser.god: I know, right? She had 18 pregnancies and 11 live births. If she died at age 40, you can reasonably assume she started having the kids in her late teens and was pregnant nearly ever year until she died–all while trying to raise a family on very little money. I don’t care how loud the Church screeches, no God I believe in would ever want a woman to endure that.
@SarahMC: See, I think the watching nurse, with all that implies, would make me more uncomfortable than the examination itself.
p.s. Margaret Sanger was amazing.
sarah.of.a.lesser.god: totally see your point.
Becky: I could be wrong but I thought the nurse had to be in there regardless M or F?
@bluebears: Nope, only with male docs. I’ve been seeing female ob-gyns for 15 years and have never once had anyone in the room except the two of us. If you have a male doc, I think you can sign a waiver saying you want the nurse to NOT be present.
Huh. I have always had a nurse be in there. One crazy story: My friend saw a male ob once. She’s a vet and he was making conversation about it during the appointment then all of a sudden mid pap she hears barking, she half sits up and he’s all, “just wanted to make you more comfortable”
bluebears: I’ve also always had a nurse in there, and my gyn is a woman.
This has less than nothing to do with naught, but my hairstylist used to be on Margaret Sanger Way in New York, which I always thought was awesome. (She’s moved now, so I don’t get that little thrill when I go to get my haircut anymore)
Did anyone else first get exposure to Margaret through the Lifetime movie? I can’t remember who played her – she was a redhead – but The Margaret Sanger Story and the movie of the shirtwaist factory fire had a profound effect on my development as a little liberal feminist.
Yeah my female ob/gyn always has a nurse in the room too. I only had a male ob/gyn once when mine was out and he was nice and fine and all, but just the way he touched me was so cautious that I felt weird and awkward. I prefer a doc, whatever their gender, to be brusque and matter of fact. He also gave me a false STD scare, partially I believe because he wasn’t used to dealing with all the possible things that happen in and to vaginas. This was in a primary care setting so I think that was part of the problem.
That’s so weird–I’ve seen female docs in a few different states and never had a nurse in the room. Maybe it’s a practice-by-practice thing? Huh. I learn something new ever day!
And yeah, JD, I think primary care docs tend to overreact on STD scares b/c they simply don’t have the same level of experience with the beauty and wonder of our ladyparts. That happened to me when I went to the student health center at my college, which was staffed only by GPs.
exactly my sitch, Becky.
she’s one of my heroes. BTW, if you look her up on facebook, the groups are almost all anti-Sanger. The oddest one is “MARGARET SANGER IS A SLUTTY HO” and the description includes this gem “Let’s face it, she slept with H.G. Wells and a host of other guys. ” I can’t figure out if it’s pro or anti.
I HATE having pelvic exams/pap smears. I get very anxious and uncomfortable and sometimes I cry. I had been open minded about male gynos, but so far I’ve seen two and they were awful: they used cold hands and instruments, ignored me when I told them something hurt, and one of them was incredibly dense when it came to discussing birth control. He seemed to think they were all the same(??) The best docs I’ve had(including my current) were cognizant of my unease, chatted with me and explained what they were about to do and I’ve been fine. I definitely think there’s something to women generally having care and empathy for female patients and I am so grateful we have the option today.
@HanaMaru: oh, that’s weird. And if she was a slutty ho, so what? She made it possible for me to be slutty without getting diseases or pregnant. God bless her.
@HanaMaru: I’m sorry it’s so traumatic! You should definitely seek out a good all-woman practice the next time you go ob-gyn shopping. I always think those all-woman practices are way more empathetic and non-judgmental, both about anxiety and about actual sexual health issues.
Becky- Oh, I do see a woman gyno as my primary care doctor and she’s great. I forgot to put in my above comment that those best doctors were all women. I know all women don’t like chatting during their pap smears, but I do, it puts me at ease.
With me, the more chat the better. Fortunately my doctor likes to chat and joke while she’s got what feels like her whole hand up in my business.
I go to a female gyn at a practice in a teaching hospital. The first time I went to see her, mid-exam, I suddenly hear a chorus of voices. Then when we were done, the other people had left. At my next appointment, she said, “Oh, let me call in the girls” and explained that they were students/interns. (She’s young herself, so the “girls” thing sounds friendly, not patronizing.) I’m not sure if she failed to give me the heads-up that first time, or if I didn’t hear her… It was a little disconcerting, though I’ve come to really like her.
I’ve always admired Margaret Sanger. She’s a hero.