Stella Browne
Encyclopedia
Stella Browne (1880–1955) was an English feminist, socialist, sex radical, and birth control
campaigner.
before World War I
, meeting radical feminists there, such as the circle around Helene Stöcker
.
Within the Communist Party
, Browne called for 'the freedom of sexual relationships from legal or economic coercion', defending abortion
and birth control
as a fundamental woman's right:
However, Browne faced opposition from men in the party who complained at their 'sex-obsessed comrades', and she left the party in 1923.
Browne was an early member of the Abortion Law Reform Association
founded by Janet Chance in the mid-1930s.
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
campaigner.
Life
Browne spent some time in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, meeting radical feminists there, such as the circle around Helene Stöcker
Helene Stöcker
Helene Stöcker was a German feminist, pacifist and sexual reformer. Stöcker was raised in a Calvinist household and attended a school for girls which emphasized rationality and morality...
.
Within the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, Browne called for 'the freedom of sexual relationships from legal or economic coercion', defending abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
as a fundamental woman's right:
However, Browne faced opposition from men in the party who complained at their 'sex-obsessed comrades', and she left the party in 1923.
Browne was an early member of the Abortion Law Reform Association
Abortion Law Reform Association
The Abortion Law Reform Association is a former advocacy organisation which promoted access to abortion in the United Kingdom. It campaigned effectively after World War II for the elimination of legal obstacles to abortion and the peak of its work was the Abortion Act 1967.In Autumn, 2003, ALRA...
founded by Janet Chance in the mid-1930s.
Works
- Sexual variety & variability among women and their bearing upon social reconstruction, London: Printed for the Society by C.W. Beaumont, 1917. Society for the Study of Sex Psychology, publication no. 3
- 'Women and Birth Control', in EdenEden PaulMaurice Eden Paul, most commonly known simply as Eden Paul was a socialist physician, writer and translator.-Biography:...
& Cedar PaulCedar PaulCedar Paul, née Gertrude Mary Davenport was a singer, author, translator and journalist.-Biography:Gertrude Davenport came from a musical family: she was the grand-daughter of the composer George Alexander Macfarren and the daughter of the composer Francis William Davenport...
, eds., Population and Birth Control, 1917. - (tr. with Ella WinterElla WinterLeonore Sophie Winter Steffens Stewart was an Australian-British journalist and activist.Her parents were Freda Lust and Adolph Wertheimer from Nuremberg in Germany, who lived in London, Melbourne, Australia and again in London, when they changed their name to Winter . Their children Rudolph,...
) The diary of Otto Braun, with selections from his letters and poems, New York, Alfred A. Knopf 1924. - (tr.) Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and TechniqueIdeal Marriage: Its Physiology and TechniqueIdeal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique is a famous popular scientific treatise and self-help book published in London in 1926 by Dutch gynecologist Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde, retired director of the Gynecological Clinic in Haarlem, and "one of the major writers on human sexuality during...
by Theodoor Hendrik van de VeldeTheodoor Hendrik van de VeldeTheodoor Hendrik van de Velde was a Dutch physician and gynæcologist who served as Director at the Gynæcological Institute in Haarlem. His 1926 book Het volkomen huwelijk made him an instant international celebrity...
. London, W. Heinemann, 1926. With an introduction by J. Johnston Abraham. - (tr.) Fertility and sterility in marriage: their voluntary promotion and limitation by Theodoor Hendrik van de VeldeTheodoor Hendrik van de VeldeTheodoor Hendrik van de Velde was a Dutch physician and gynæcologist who served as Director at the Gynæcological Institute in Haarlem. His 1926 book Het volkomen huwelijk made him an instant international celebrity...
. London, W. Heinemann, 1929. - (tr.) The family by Franz Carl Müller-Lyer. London : G. Allen & Unwin, 1931.
- (with A. M. Ludovici and Harry Roberts) Abortion, London: G. Allen & Unwin ltd., 1935.
- (tr.) History of modern morals by Max Hodann. London: WIlliam Heinemann Medical Books, 1937.
External links
- Lesley Hall, Stella Browne
- Stella Browne: Biography at Spartacus Educational