День: 09.11.2015

Historical and Social Perspectives

■ From the beginning of recorded history, humankind has been concerned about birth control. ■ Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinics in the United States at a time when it was illegal to provide birth control information and devices. ■ Objections to contraception stem from Roman Catholic doctrine and far-right anti-contraception beliefs. However, […]

The making of sex hormones

In 1934, a cargo train arrived at the grounds of the Dutch pharmaceutical company Organon. This train did not carry any conventional cargo such as coal, or instrumental equipment, but a rather extraordinary load: thousands of liters of urine. In the Dutch countryside, horse owners could sell the liquid waste products of their mares for […]

Medication

In the last century it was also believed that certain medicines could adversely affect potency. Roubaud described how in the treatment of tuberculosis with iodine vapour he saw four cases of impotence develop. Saltpetre also acquired a bad reputation. The use of bromide compounds mainly affected sexual desire. Camphor dulled the sensi­tivity of the genitalia. […]

Trafficking in Women:. The Costs of State Pressure

I F FOREIGN ASSISTANCE combined with local and transnational feminist ac­tivism made the process of blaming and shaming more effective, perhaps more powerful intervention could be even more helpful in promoting global femi­nist change. In addition to the positive incentives of grants from large charitable foundations and international development agencies, strong states can employ more […]