Reproductive Rights Issues in Popular Media: International Perspectives

"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body." Almost a century after Margaret Sanger wrote these words, women's reproductive rights are still hotly debated in the press and among policymakers, while film, television and other media address issues of birth control and abortion to global audiences.

This collection of new essays brings fresh perspectives to the study of family planning, contraception and abortion with a focus on their representation in popular media. Topics include dramas of adoption and abortion, telling the story of the pill, Sanger's depiction in entertainment media, and a controversy about demographic developments stirred by Carl Djerassi, also known as "the father of the pill."

Waltraud Maierhofer is professor of German and an affiliated faculty member of the Honors Program and International Programs at the University of Iowa. She is the author and editor of several monographs, collected volumes, and critical editions in German literary and cultural.

Beth Widmaier Capo is a professor of English and gender and women's studies at Illinois College, in Jacksonville, Illinois.