Review : Sexual subjects

Although largely unrecognised, Mary Ware Dennett revolutionised sex education
in the US at a time when birth control was banned and prostitution considered
necessary to preserve marital fidelity. In The Sex Side of Life, Constance M.
Chen (New Press, $25, ISBN 1 56584 132 8) charts her campaign for freely
available contraception against the background of her failed marriage and
struggle as a single parent. A fast-moving and sympathetic portrait of a
thoroughly modern woman who advocated shared parenthood and economic
independence for women.