Kōrero: Contraception and sterilisation

In the 1920s information about sex, sexuality, contraception and sexually transmitted infections was not available in New Zealand. Adults were generally ignorant about these subjects and doctors were little better. Married love (1918) was penned by Britain's famous birth-control pioneer Marie Stopes. The law on importation of birth-control books was inconsistent – some were banned while others could be imported, but there was no guarantee that police would not swoop on booksellers. Stopes's follow-up book Enduring passion (1928) was described by Director-General of Health Thomas Valentine as 'a thoroughly beastly book'.