Fatal Secrets and the French Fertility Transition

Abstract

There are references in historical French literature to withdrawal or mutual masturbation mostly outside marriage. It is difficult to determine to what extent withdrawal was used within marriage. The context of marital fertility is important in understanding early French fertility decline. The first reference to use of withdrawal among marital couples is given as Francis Place and Robert Dale Owen in the 19th century. Most of the early references are made to extramarital use as a cultural practice that is communicated and a learned behavior. Although Jean Sutter argued that coitus interruptus is capable of appearing spontaneously most contributors in the most authoritative French study of the introduction of family limitation accept a view of social diffusion. Jean-Baptiste Moheau in 1778 is credited with the allusion to fatal secrets among French peasants. Fertility decline occurred during a period when French writers mention the early practice of birth control either premarriage or in extramarital affairs. The most widely quoted passages on French demography are attributed to Moheaus Recherches et considerations sur la population de la France. The Flandrin interpretation of Moheaus passages suggests the diffusion of contraceptive information from the higher to lower social classes. Santow considered withdrawal the main technique responsible for marital fertility decline in Western Europe during the 19th century. Although the condom was invented in 1710 and the sponge later in the 1700s little reference is made to these forms of contraception in the literature. Pornography during the 1700s mentions abortifacients. Eight literary references during this period excluding Casanova refer to withdrawal methods which are considered unreliable and mistrusted by women. Senancour in 1806 and Robert Dale Owen in 1831 suggest that trust in the male lover is key to the success of withdrawal. Religious writings from confessors of the 18th century called withdrawal conjugal onanism.