From naughty goods to Nicole Miller: medicine and the marketing of American contraceptives.
In the rich history of modern pharmaceutical advertising in the United States, few medical objects have been as controversial as contraceptives. Condemned in the 1870s as lascivious devices whose commercial visibility would tarnish female sexual purity, contraceptives have in the late twentieth century been repackaged by pharmaceutical companies as the smart, progressive, and fashion-conscious woman's ally. This article explores evolving perspectives on the place of birth control in public spaces from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. In so doing, it elucidates the changes and continuities in the long and contested history of marketing, medicine, sexuality, and reproductive control.
Tone
Andrea
A
Social Studies of Medicine and Department of History, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1X1. andrea.tone@mcgill.ca
D000329:Advertising / Q000266:history; D003132:Commerce / Q000266:history*; D003270:Contraceptive Agents / Q000266:history*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing / Q000266:history*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States
D003270:Contraceptive Agents