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Sex and respectability in an age of fertility decline: A Sicilian case study

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  • Schneider, Jane
  • Schneider, Peter

Abstract

The paper examines two aspects of coitus interruptus as a sexual practice: (1) how, in the age of fertility decline in Western Europe, its meaning was reinterpreted from an earlier theological view that condemned it as licentious to a nineteenth century view that emphasized restraint, and (2) how it was actually experienced by a socially stratified birth-controlling population in rural Sicily, ca 1900-1970. The sequential experiences of gentry, artisans, and peasants in the Sicilian case study of transition from high to low fertility are consistent with late twentieth-century interpretations of coitus interruptus by Foucault and others as sexually restraining yet empowering. In each group, adoption of the practice enhanced access to respectability in a context of cultural and economic change. Moreover, those who adopted the practice increasingly stigmatized married couples with high birth parities as overly dominated by their sexual instincts and unworthy of respect.

Suggested Citation

  • Schneider, Jane & Schneider, Peter, 1991. "Sex and respectability in an age of fertility decline: A Sicilian case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 885-895, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:33:y:1991:i:8:p:885-895
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna & Stefano Gavini & Angela Spinelli, 1998. "The Effect of Changing Sexual, Marital and Contraceptive Behaviour on Conceptions, Abortions, and Births," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 61-88, March.
    2. Maria Castiglioni & Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna & Marzia Loghi, 2001. "Planned and Unplanned Births and Conceptions in Italy, 1970–1995," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 207-233, September.
    3. Hera Cook, 2000. "Unseemly and unwomanly behaviour: Comparing women’s control of their fertility in Australia and England from 1890 to 1970," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 125-141, November.
    4. Alessandra Gribaldo & Maya D. Judd & David I. Kertzer, 2009. "An Imperfect Contraceptive Society: Fertility and Contraception in Italy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 551-584, September.

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