History - F*cking with our conceptions of the past

One of the main things I love about history is that the more I learn, the more taken for assumption knowledge is challenged. Since I've for the past year have been reading alot about the history of gender and sexuality, I've come to learn that our common perceptions of the past is often wrong. One such example is a doctoral dissertation by Sofia Kling titled "Vi våga ej helt leva" (we dare not to fully live) which discusses the fertility transformation that took place during the early 20th century. 

Klings point of departure is a phenomena which have been the subject of debate within the discipline of demographics: in the first decades of the 20th century the western world faced a decline in birth rates. This decline can not be connected to natural events or enviromental factors that affects fertility. Instead the decline have to have it's root causes within human behaviour and a variety of ideas have been put forward to explain it. This fertility transition also concurs with the launch of contraceptives, where for instance the rubber condome was invented in 1864. Still, there is debate sourrunding how this fertility transition played out. 

US birth-rates between 1909–2009. 


Whilst Klings study does not aim to fully explain these changes, she still however adresses several social issues that were part of the transition were I've found her discussions on gender and rising economic standards as particular intresting. In common culture, the gender-roles of the centuries leading up to the modern era is often conceived as quite harsh. Women are often depicting lacking sexual lust or interest, whilst men are mostly depicted as brutes taking the women by force. Often this is linked to an understanding of rape not being criminalized within marriage in Sweden until 1965, when Sweden were the first country in the world to adapt such a legislation. 

This have often led to a conception were women lacked judicial rights, which is true. However, social norms does not always match the judicial development. Klings study show that even though rape occured within marriages, this was far less common than partnerships built upon mutual interests and affection. The picture of the male as a brute is according to Kling the result of an Othering process, where the burgeoise tried to de-humanize the male worker, a process that still shapes our conception of the past. 

Another interesting thing about Klings dissertation is the value added to social norms which did not explicity connect to the sexuality but still contributed to a changed birthrate. The first decades of the 20th century meant not only an increased living standard for the working class, but also that the term respectability became linked to material factors. In this regard, social norms changed and the clean, safe home became a goal for many members of the working class. Contrary to what would be a simple conculsion to draw, this raise in living standard did not led to an increased number of children. Instead children were seen as investment, were the choice to become a parent to a large degree was shaped by the wish to keep a high living standard. Therefore the working class came to view parentship in another way, since to many children would lead to a decline in living standard. 

All in all, Klings dissertation (even though it have almost fourteen years since it publication), still have a impact on the historical notion of birth-rates. And perhaps the most intriguing aspect is that it challenges our perceptions of the past, and links the changing norms to the material world. 

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