Carton for ‘Racial’ cervical cap, London, England, 1945-1960

Lid of carton for cervical cap, "Racial" brand, London, 1945-1960.

Dr Marie Stopes (1880-1958) founded the Society for Constructive Birth Control (CBC). The ‘CBC’ supplied this carton, which once contained a ‘Racial’ cervical cap. A cervical cap is a barrier contraceptive. It is inserted by a woman before sex. It sits over the cervix to act as a barrier to sperm entering the uterus. The trademark ‘Racial’ is related to Stopes’ belief in eugenics. This widely held theory in the early 1900s argued selective breeding could remove ‘undesirables’ from society. Stopes opened the first of her birth control clinics in Holloway, North London in 1921. While she is best remembered as a feminist and a birth control pioneer, her efforts to provide contraception were underpinned by class and racial prejudices about the type of women suitable for motherhood.