The 'Wunschkindpille'Hormonal Contraception in the GDR.A Cultural History between Socialistic Ideology and Pharmacology

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lutz Niethammer
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2010 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 160780805

Our research project explores the cultural history of hormonal contraception in the GDR. We focus on the development of hormonal contraceptives as well as the experiences of women (and men) with hormonal contraceptives. The pill is a product of modern society, and it was developed, implemented, propagated and acquired by different protagonists, each with special intentions. We can show that at medium level a special network of experts existed within the hierarchic system of socialistic dictatorship. Those men and women of medical and pharmaceutical profession, social sciences and politics were the protagonists of preparation and implementation of the pill to the East German society. For women in Western Germany the access to hormonal contraceptives was limited by conservative norms propagated by many politicians, physicians and especially by the Catholic Church. In Eastern Germany the socialistic regime and many professionals promoted the use of the so called Wunschkindpille as the best way of contraception and useful family planning. Biographic narratives instead show that cultural experience of hormonal contraception in the GDR is much more complex. Hormonal contraceptives had a deep impact on partnership, marriage, family and sexuality. The socialization of the pill within the socialistic dictatorship was a process of negotiation, too, with changing sets of power of political elites, experts and (female) users. Beside different forms of accepting hormonal contraceptives our interview research shows different forms of willful acquirement. Firstly, we found a narrative of sacrifice for family driven by the ethics of achievement of postwar society. Secondly, there is a narrative of self-determined female independence (of single mothers) which incorporates sexual liberation but is not exclusively linked with the pill. Thirdly, in contrast to the GDR policy of family planning, there were rising ambitions in alternative methods of contraception, especially among religious women and men. A very special form of acquirement was a narrative of opposition. The intentional renouncement of the pill and the conscious decision for the model of an extended family is interpreted by the interviewee as a rejection of societal norms and family norms which were imposed by the socialistic regime.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professorin Dr. Silke Satjukow