Lea Eisenstein

Lea Eisenstein

Contributor

Lea Eisenstein is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her BA studying the history of medicine, the history of technology, and gender and health. Her honors thesis, “From Icon to Bygone: The Rise and Fall of the Diaphragm in Twentieth-Century America,” explores the social history of the contraceptive diaphragm.

History

Making Medical History: The Sociologist Who Helped Legalize Birth Control

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When sociology and economics professor Norman E. Himes published The Medical History of Contraception in 1936, he had made a daring, yet tactical move. At the time, contraception was not, legally speaking, considered a medical matter at all. Under the Comstock Act, which had been in effect since 1873, all literature and devices used for… Read more →

History

The Women’s Health Movement and the Dream of the Diaphragm

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Half a century after the emergence of the women’s liberation movement, “the pill” remains ingrained in the iconography of second-wave feminism. Although the drug now comes in a sleek blister pack, the image of a retro Dialpak remains an aesthetic touchstone—a symbol of bodily autonomy now emblazoned on enamel pins, earrings, and rubber stamps. It… Read more →