Gertrude Stein (Essay Date C. October 1901)

SOURCE: Stein, Gertrude. "Degeneration in American Women." In Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein, by Brenda Wineapple, pp. 411-14. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1996.

In the following essay, written sometime between October 1901 and early 1902, Stein discusses the problems of sterility and low birth rates among American women, outlining the physiological and voluntary causes which she attributes to the abandonment of maternal ideals.

In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association October 5, 1901, Dr. Engellman [sic; the spelling of Engelmann's name varies throughout] discusses the alarming increase in sterility among American women. He finds that in the United States there is a higher sterility and a lower fecundity than in any other country outside of France and for the native American population the condition is worse than in France. The data that he uses are his own...