Vasectomy in 20th-Century Britain: Uncovering Men's Reproductive Choices

This presentation provides an overview of the history of vasectomy in Britain, providing comparisons to international settings (particularly Canada), before delving into some of the primary findings on men's experiences of vasectomy in Britain. It focuses on social justice issues of consent, coercion and availability of options for reproductive autonomy.

Georgia Grainger is a final year PhD student at the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare (CSHHH) at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Her PhD research on "A Social History of Vasectomy in Britain, 1920 to 1990" is funded by the university's Research Excellence Award. Her research uses oral histories to support archival research, and is expected to be submitted for examination in Spring 2022. You can find her on Twitter @sniphist.

The Gender, Health and Social Justice Speaker Series is jointly presented by Dr. Whitney Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health, and Dr. Erika Dyck, Canada Research Chair in Health and Social Justice at the University of Saskatchewan. It was organized by Dr. Karissa Patton, a VIU Canada Research Chair Post-Doctoral Fellow, and Letitia Johnson, a PhD Candidate from the University of Saskatchewan.