The Development and Diffusion of the Birth Control Movement in the Taisho Era: Activities of Birth Control Clinics and their Clients

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  • 大正期における産児調節運動の展開と普及　―産児調節相談所の活動とその利用者―
  • タイショウキ ニ オケル サンジ チョウセツ ウンドウ ノ テンカイ ト フキュウ : サンジ チョウセツ ソウダンショ ノ カツドウ ト ソノ リヨウシャ

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Abstract

<p>  In Japan, the birth control movement started in 1922, when the Japanese Birth Control Study Society (Nihon Sanji Chosetsu Kenkyukai) was founded. As a part of the birth control movement of Taisho era, the birth control clinic played a significant role in educating people about contraception. By 1925, four major clinics were founded in the Tokyo and Osaka areas. Focusing upon these four clinics, this paper discusses the class composition of their clients and the popularity of contraception.</p><p>  At the end of the Taisho period (1923-1925), most of the clients attending the clinics belonged to the “new middle class.” They were not only from Japan, but also from the colonies, such as Korea and Manchukuo (modern Korea and north-east China). The majority belonged to the so-called intellectual class, but twenty to thirty per cent were working class. In addition, 76% of clients’spouse－majority of the clients were male in these clinics－ were in the late twenties and thirties, most of who had four to five children. They sought contraception for economic reasons.</p><p>  Up until the mid-1920s, the majority of client belonged to the new middle class, especially the intellectual class. Then, in the late 1920s, more people from the working class started to use the clinics, which led to the spread of the birth control movement in the early thirties.</p>

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