Did you know that birth control has only been legalized in 14 states? Or that not one, but two activists fought for its legalization? Providence resident Stephanie Gorton dives deep into the origins of birth control and the longwinded battle of activists Mary Ware Dennett and Margaret Sanger against the political, legal, and medical establishment, as well as each other, in her latest book, The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America, released November 26, 2024. Gorton, whose interest in the challenge and craft of book writing came from years of working in book publishing, recently sat down with Motif to discuss the book, which author and NYT mystery columnist Sarah Weinmein calls “a shrewd and deeply researched dual biography that compares and contrasts two legendary 20th Century feminist figures.” According to Gorton, “I’m always trying to supply a more relationship-driven way of looking at the past in my work: not as a series of great figures, but a web of human connections framing the world we live in today.”
LuzJennifer Martinez (Motif): How do you feel your new book has resonated with readers since its release, and in the wake of Roe v. Wade getting overturned in 2022?
Stephanie Gorton: The book’s structure was already in place when Dobbs happened, but the news definitely added to my sense of purpose in writing it. Readers have responded so generously. The book showcases what a hard and dirty fight it was to legalize birth control, while also getting up close and personal with two complicated, largerthan-life individuals. In the wake of Dobbs, a longer view on the issue of reproductive freedom and the specific challenges of feminist activism seems to be welcome. I love seeing the difference in reactions between generations. Older people tend to remember a time before long-term birth control was so easily accessible, and they never took it for granted. I and my peers, and younger people, have a harder time believing just how taboo sex and contraception were in the past.
LM: What inspired you to write about Sanger, Dennett, and their dynamic, especially given the changing perspective (mainly federally) surrounding reproductive rights in the US?
SG: I’m a longtime volunteer staffer with the RI Abortion Fund, and this cause has long been important to me. It was interesting to me that birth control is so uncontroversial today, though it has this history of being a radical idea. Sanger and Dennett, as leaders of the movement, clearly needed to be in the spotlight, but as time went on, I was inspired to bring Dennett a greater degree of recognition. She was such a fascinating, stubborn, visionary person. I wrote a book that I wanted to read, for historical perspective, entertainment, and solace.
LM: What is the overall takeaway you hope readers have from this book?
SG: Activism is a long game. That’s the fiveword takeaway! Mary Ware Dennett isn’t a name many people recognize today, but she was the first to bring reproductive rights to Washington: She lobbied for a federal law legalizing birth control between 1919 and 1924. In the end, she left feeling like a complete failure, and returned to making art, her first love. But because she’d made that first effort, later campaigns had a better chance of being taken seriously. We’re still fighting the same battle: Legal birth control has been affirmed in just 14 states, and the federal Right to Contraception Act failed to pass Congress just last year. Still, slowly and nonlinearly, the fight for this basic right continues to gain ground.
LM: What is the overall takeaway you have had from writing this book and getting it published? SG: Luck is important. This book had an incredible stroke of luck when I interviewed Dennett’s granddaughter and she gave the family her blessing to show me a bunch of previously unseen material. That material really helped me understand the early days of Dennett’s birth control activism, along with many compelling details about her personal life. (Her post-divorce relationship history was more exciting than I’d initially assumed!)
LM: How did you approach writing this book and morphing it into its current form? Did you aim to just provide commentary about these two leaders and their different perspectives through historical background? Or did you seek to tell each of their stories and have them meet in the middle at some point? SG: At the beginning I committed to the dual biography format, and as I worked in archives and libraries, the historical-context sections grew out of my research. There were at least 18 drafts of the book over the 5 years I spent on it, starting with complete chaos and wrapping up after a couple of “official” editorial rounds. Earlier drafts included devices like flashbacks and also included many more frustrating scenes of Dennett and Sanger lobbying Congress. I tried convincing my editor that readers needed to feel in their bones how exhausting it must have been to go through all that, and they rightly said my job was not to make readers suffer.
LM: Anything you would do differently as far as writing or shaping this book? What wouldn’t you change if you had a chance to do it over again?
SG: Apart from the handful of typos I found, there are so many sentences I’d rewrite! That’s the trouble with cracking open a whole book of your own work that’s already been printed and bound; it never feels done, but you still need to let go. I’m grateful my editors gave me leeway to explore a wide range of related topics, from references to birth control in novels and pre-code Hollywood movies to the ravages of the eugenics movement. Many cuts were made, but I was also free to assemble the kind of book I love to read most: resonant with present-day battles, while being a bit digressive and gossipy.
LM: If you were not the author of this book and came across it, who would you recommend it to for reading?
SG: Readers who like biographies of radical women, anyone curious about the pre-Roe history that shaped today’s reproductive rights landscape, and, of course, anyone who appreciates the drama of an often-petty rivalry. •
Gorton mostly grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC and after a few detours overseas and in New York City, she landed in Fox Point, where she’s lived for 12 years. For more information about her work and where to find it, visit stephaniegorton.com.
