Margaret Sanger portrait, black and white photo.

Lysol, The Pill, and the Duggars: Contraception and Controversy in American History

By Jacqueline Antonovich

I recently read Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, a fascinating biography by historian Jean H. Baker. As a historian of gender and medicine, I thought I knew all about Sanger and her quest to make birth control legal and accessible to the women of America; however, I found myself utterly shocked by one simple fact from Sanger’s background – her mother, Anne, was pregnant eighteen times in twenty-two years, which resulted in eleven live births.

Music video still for Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know, featuring a man with his mouth open (singing) and a woman next to him, both painted in geometric patterns

Breaking Up and the Blame Game: A Feminist Analysis of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”

By Ashley Baggett

Scores of songs discuss love and breaking up.  Ending an intimate relationship with a significant other is well known for its challenges: how to end it, what happens after, how to move on, who gets to keep the pet, etc.  Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” takes on this topic, and while its tune is catchy and quite beautiful, the song’s lyrics are enough to make any feminist or egalitarian individual cringe.

Welcome!

By Jacqueline Antonovich

Welcome to Nursing Clio! Nursing Clio is a collaborative blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day political, social, and cultural issues surrounding gender and medicine. Men’s and women’s bodies, their reproductive rights, and their healthcare are often at the center of political debate and have also become a large part of the social and cultural discussions in popular media.