A Desire to Cure, Not to Punish: Women Physicians and Eugenics in the American West, 19001930 by Jacqueline D. Antonovich – Smith College Grcourt Gate

Thursday, October 13, 5p.m., Graham Hall, Brown Fine Arts Center

Jacqueline D. Antonovich is Assistant Professor of History at Muhlenberg College. Professor Antonovich is a historian of health and medicine in the United States, with particular interests in how race, genderand politics shape the medical field and access to health care. Professor Antonovich also founded Nursing Clio, a public-facing academic blog that explores intersections of medicines history (and present) and identity, especially race and gender.

Between 1900 and 1930, efforts to curb abortion, restrict contraceptionand promote eugenics dominated public and legal discourse on marriage, pregnancyand childbirth in the United States. This talk examines the role of women physicians in driving discourse, circulating ideasand setting policy agendas on reproductive surveillance and restrictions during this period. Through two case studies, we will explore how women physicians became an effective force for bringing eugenics to the massesbecoming the middleman between scientist and mother, researcher and reformer.

Antonovichs lecture is in conjunction with the Kahn Institute yearlong project Health and Medicine, Culture and Society: Crossroads in a Liberal Arts Education.

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A Desire to Cure, Not to Punish: Women Physicians and Eugenics in the American West, 19001930 by Jacqueline D. Antonovich - Smith College Grcourt Gate