Elizabeth Siegel Watkins, an historian who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, was the latest visitor in the Kirkland Project series "Questioning the Body." Author of the critically acclaimed book On the Pill: A Social History of Oral Contraceptives, 1950-1970 (Johns Hopkins, 1998), Watkins' lecture at Hamilton on November 15 was an overview of struggles about reproductive rights in the U.S. throughout the twentieth century.
Watkins argued that attempts to control women's reproductive choices have been a consistent feature of recent U.S. history, even while the techniques and intentions of the controllers varied. Concerns about racial demographics, overpopulation, and welfare dependence have in various periods been articulated in efforts to control women's reproduction. In light of this history, the current freedom women have to make their own reproductive decisions should not, Watkins warned, be taken for granted.
In addition to her evening lecture, Watkins participated in a lively discussion about the history of the abortion controversy with students in College 130, "Coming of Age in America."
Watkins' visit to Hamilton was generously supported by the Kirkland Project, the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, and the Department of Sociology.