Introduction

This chapter introduces the social and political status of reproductive rights in later-twentieth-century Queensland and considers how contracepting bodies were constructed and understood. By examining individual and collective authorities in law, medicine, policing, and religion, this introductory chapter situates Queensland as a case study worthy of consideration when thinking about birth control, abortion, sterilisation, and sex education. It demonstrates how vigilance around sexed bodies was a broader function of State control that reinforced notions of “acceptable” sexualities: heterosexual, monogamous, white, middle-class, and Christian. It provides theoretical frameworks used throughout the book, including gender history, legal history, and medical history, and methodological approaches, including archival research and oral history interviews.