A Literary History of Forced Sterilization

What do you get when you mix a 9th-grader's understanding of genetics with bigoted ideals? Why, old eugenics, of course! Instagram: instagram.com/Dr.Heffers Patreon: patreon.com/DrHeffers Linktree: linktr.ee/Dr.Heffers Citations Beres, Derek. “Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed.” The Guardian, 4 May 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/04/maga-soft-eugenics. Black, Edwin. “Eugenics and the Nazis – the California connection.” San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Nov. 2003. https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Eug.... CDC. “A transmission electron microscope micrograph of poliovirus.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio#/media.... De Camp, Joseph Rodefer. “Portrait of the Artist's Wife Edith.” https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prin.... “Fitter Families exhibit/exam tent, Eastern States Exposition, Springfield, Massachusetts.” Eugenics Archive, https://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugen.... Gilbert, Martin. “Churchill and Eugenics.” 31 May, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20131215071541.... Hope, Anna. The Ballroom. McClelland & Stewart, 2016. Kirksey, Eben. The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans. St. Martin’s Press, 2020. Krohg, Christian. “Sick Girl.” https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collectio.... Lang, Louis. “The Invalid.” Wikipedia, 1870, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_rest. “Lincoln State School.” Asylum Projects, https://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/L.... Moger, Susan. Of Better Blood. Albert Whitman & Company, 2016. “Rare Photos Show How Eugenics Was Promoted in the Early 20th Century.” Rare Historical Photos, https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/historica.... Sadler, William. “Vinhill.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Rebell.... “Voices from the asylum | Menston Asylum.” Northern Life, 31 Mar. 2017, https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/menston.... “Why did Suffragettes go on hunger strike?” London Museum, https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collection.... Wyeth, Andrew. “Christina’s World.” 1948, Artchive, https://www.artchive.com. Additional Resources: Baker, Graham J. “Christianity and Eugenics: The Place of Religion in the British Eugenics Education Society and the American Eugenics Society, c.1907–1940.” Social History of Medicine, 8 Apr. 2014, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 281–302, doi: 10.1093/shm/hku008 Rovera, Catherine. “Unclaimed Bodies, Feeble Minds in The Ballroom (2016): Anna Hope’s Visions of Asylum.” Études britanniques contemporaines - Revue de la Société dʼétudes anglaises contemporaines, vo. 53, 2017, doi⟨10.4000/ebc.3779⟩. Steinke, Darcey. This Is the Door: The Body, Pain, and Faith. HarperOne, 2026. https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/06/0... (Fitter Family Contest)