Margaret Sanger: “Sexual Impulse-Part II”

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In 1912 Sanger reworked some of the informal talks on sex hygiene she had given to small groups of Socialist women into a series of articles for the New York Call, the Socialist Party's daily newspaper. “Sexual Impulse—Part II” was the seventh article in a twelve-part series published between November 17, 1912, and March 2, 1913. Sanger's frank approach to sexual issues drew the attention of the U.S. postal authorities, who suppressed the final article in the series, prompting the Call to run a blank column with the heading, “What Every Girl Should Know; NOTHING! By Order of the Post Office Department.” The censored article was published in its entirety a month later.

With “Sexual Impulse—Part II,” Sanger put forth a new brand of feminism that equated women's autonomy with sexual knowledge and freedom. She argues that women have sexual needs and desires every bit as powerful as men's, something that many authors denied. Sanger calls the sexual urge a “creative instinct” not to be used entirely for procreation but also not to be wasted in youth. And, she says, “instead of allowing it to remain dormant and make her odd and whimsical, the modern Woman turns her sexual impulse into a big directing force.” She further makes the distinction between sex and love, saying, “Let us not confuse the sexual impulse with love, for it alone is not love, but merely a necessary quality for the growth of love.” Sanger borrows from the writings of the social purity reformers and sex radicals of the late nineteenth century who implored men and women to practice self-restraint and conserve sexual energy in order to build character and strength and to learn the difference between love and desire. Here Sanger adds a feminist component to the argument by advising young women to strive for political and economic independence. As she put it, “When women gain their economic freedom they will cease being playthings and utilities for men, but will assert themselves and choose the father of their offspring.” Naturally, they would choose their mates based on eugenic principles of heredity, health, and intelligence rather than settling for the first eligible caretaker. Indeed, borrowing from George Bernard Shaw, Sanger claims that such a woman would “hunt down her ideal in order to produce the Superman.” The article, and the series in general, established a theme that Sanger carried through her sex education writings over the next several decades—that women can achieve sexual freedom only if they attain sexual knowledge.