The aspect of sex and the use of birth control were touchy issues in the early 20th century. Sex was only for married couples that wanted to have children. The idea of sex before marriage was crazy. Because of all the beliefs about sex being only for procreation and not for pleasure birth control was not needed. There was one major event and one key person who are responsible for making the use of birth control acceptable in America.

The major event being World War I. In World War I there was a lot of usage of whore houses by the French and English soldiers. A major problem with the French and English governments allowing men to go to the whorehouses was that there was rapid spread of VD. A soldier that is suffering from herpes, syphilis, or gonorrhea doesn't fight too well. President Wilson was very concerned about the American soldiers getting sick and not able to fight. He also wanted to stop the spread of VD

Wilson decided that during boot camp the soldiers would be taught about VD's, and the effect of them. The recruits had to take a sexual education class. In the class the men were shown pictures and movies that sho

Margaret is able to make a deal with the United States and is able to come back to America. Once she is back in America she starts a birth control clinic. Margaret isn't able to get birth control devices in America, so she smuggles in condoms and diaphragms from Europe and Japan into America for her clinics. Again, Margaret Sanger is arrested and goes to jail for distributing birth control to the public. Sanger was then convicted of distributing illegal items and is sent to jail for a short prison sentence.

One of the harbingers of birth control was Emma Goldman. Emma was a Russian immigrant to America. She was a trained nurse and helped treat the men in World War I. She also worked in a hospital and saw women dying all the time of incorrectly done abortions. Emma was outraged about all the men who have VD and all of the women who had died from bad abortions. She decided to start teaching about birth control. She gave huge public rallies in cities across the country on the use of birth control. Unfortunately, the public didn't accept what Emma said. She was arrested in 37 different cities. In the end, her ideas were too radical for the time, and she was sent back to Russia.

In 1965 the Supreme Court made birth control legal in all states for married couples. It wasn't; until 1972 that birth control became legal for use by everyone in every state in America. The taboo of premarital sex was so strong that even today there are strong anti teen, and anti non-married couples having sex. Birth control made it possible for people to have sex without the consequences of VD or a baby.

After World War I the GI's that came home used the information they learned in the sexual education classes in boot camp and put them to work. With the knowledge of the condom and the recent invention of the car, premarital sex was widely practiced. The women of post World War I had twice as much sex as their mothers had had.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1723
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)