Womanhood and Race-regeneration

1912

Truby King Collection HQ 751 S943

London: Cassell & Co.

The National Council of Public Morals (UK) was anxious about the deterioration of the ‘race’ through a declining birth rate among the middle and upper classes. To promote their cause they enlisted Dr Mary Scharlieb (1845-1930), who opposed contraception and divorce; Dr Caleb W. Saleeby (1878-1940), who co-founded the Eugenics Education Society (from Greek: ‘eugenes’ meaning well-born) in 1907, and sexologist Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), who at one time was vice-president of the EES. One concern held by the NCPM was the effect of films on viewers. In 1920, King wrote The Evils of Picture Shows, which advocated censorship on the grounds that films had the potential to ‘unbalance, sap, undermine and stunt’ the proper development of young minds. This work was endorsed by the Plunket Society.