Unmarried Mothers Who Are Physically Handicapped: A Study of Seven Girls, Fifteen to Thirty-Eight Who Were Referred to the New York Foundling Hospital, 1957–1961
Abstract
Background of the Study. With the advent of organized society, the institution of marriage was formulated and recognized as the only approved means of seeking sexual expression. Any deviations in behavior resulted in condemnation and punitiveness for the women participants once their actions resulted in pregnancy. What was once ordinary and natural behavior was judged to be criminal and harsh steps were taken to make quick examples of anyone who dared violate the moral code. While society has come a long way from the days when public shippings and imprisonment could be expected, it nevertheless remains adamant upholding illegitimacy as a disgrace to the individual and the mental anguish suffered by someone falling from the good graces of the norm of the group cannot be undermined. Even in these modern days of the weakening of the double standards and the so-called "emancipation of women", while light may be made of the sexual activities involved by the most sophisticated of women, the fear of pregnancy still exists.
Subject Area
Womens studies|Social research|Social psychology|Social work
Recommended Citation
Labbate, Marie, "Unmarried Mothers Who Are Physically Handicapped: A Study of Seven Girls, Fifteen to Thirty-Eight Who Were Referred to the New York Foundling Hospital, 1957–1961" (1962). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30670824.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30670824
