Introduction
Lewis Terman
development of the IQ test — Stanford-Binet test
who was being sterilized/how the process happened
who IQ targeted—poor people—negative eugenics
“any feebleminded woman is a potential prostitute”
-lower class sexuality regulation — sexuality without motherhood
-sexually delinquent woman
not all eugenists==sterlization
catholics against sterilization
discussion of whether nature vs. nurture is true
— therefore convincing was in order—human betterment society
Paul Popenoe
Human Betterment Society secretary—all the pamphlets
not all eugenicists == sterilization
-without fear of pregnancy what would stop illicit sexual activity?
counter arguments: segregation, monitoring, or sterilization
arguments
-without unsexing the patient
-poor people take tax money, better for economy
-parents/relatives generally agree to the idea
-not mass sterilization
propaganda of the stuff made it mainstream — sterilization would never have been possible without all of the propaganda
california was exceptional in that so many medical and government officials support it—and because of the propaganda
David Starr Jordan
he and Terman are communicating, calls Popenoe a disciple
although a lot of people have been like he’s def a sterlizationist, it’s very unclear what his role or thoughts were
he was def a eugensitsts, member of breeders association and eugenics commission
-pacifism argument
-also definitively interested in breed—better baby contests
-and he was for the dissemination of info about birth control, but believed it would end up in the wrong hands
however, involvement in the HBF was sketchy
-picture was used/had eye infection/was really old/said use my name as matter of for—unclear how involved he was/didn’t attend eugenics meeting
he also said sterilization shouldn’t be role of the state
but on the other hand, weird anecdote in days of a man
unclear at the end of his life what his views were, but basically he wasn’t super interested in it
Endings
move from positive to negative eugenics
Nazi Germany didn’t make eugenics impalatable, but sensing the current
-mroe people were like maybe it’s nurture
so Terman and Popenoe switched to positive eugenics and focusing on martial happiness
German starts his study, Popenoe starts the Institute —drawing on old sterilization crowd
Popenoe becomes a total celebrity
Conclusions
historical context
-on the one hand, they believed eugenics was true — did not take counter claims seriously enough
-facism—prioritization of the society over the state
why does this disturb us
-taking away individual liberties which the us is not about
-placing value on characteristics — they were not racist, but rather classist
-but a lot of modern day policies are predicated on the same values—immigration, genetic selection
-“messing with nature”, the same problem with genetic selection which is that human knowledge is not infallible and you don’t know what you’re messing with; and anyone who has worked with special needs kids know that they bring value and joy and love into our lives even if they are not what they would have considered normal
“isn’t it better that defective children never be born?” is eerie
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