WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Ethel Byrne: The Feminist Icon You Have Never Heard of
Was Margaret Sanger Responsible for her Erasure?
Are you a person who has been on a date in last sixty years? Have you discussed questions like: “Do you want children?” or “How many children do you want?” Do you consider these standard relationship questions?
Most couples explore family planning as a normal and expected part of their courtship. But a hundred years ago, family planning was considered lewd, immoral and was quite literally illegal. We have largely forgotten that without the civil disobedience of dozens of women, we would not have these casual questions today.
On October 26, 1916, ten days after opening their clinic in Brooklyn, three women were arrested in a raid for the crime of distributing contraceptives. These three women were a translator named Fania Mindell, and sisters Ethel Byrne and Margaret Sanger, who were both nurses.
The clinic’s purpose was to help women manage family size so that they would be able to choose the number of children they had (two for Ethel, three for Margaret) instead of being condemned to a life of constant pregnancy and the medical issues (and risk of death) that causes.
Ethel and Margaret’s mother had 18 pregnancies, 11 of which produced live children. Watching their mother’s deteriorating health inspired the two of them to become nurses. They created educational literature on pregnancy, birth, and contraception and had already been distributing them for a few years before opening their clinic.
After arrest, Ethel Byrne went on a hunger strike
Ethel Byrne was the first of the three women to be sentenced. Her sentence was for 30 days in a workhouse. Unpleasant, yes, but I think as a modern day woman I would just put my head down and do the time with every intention of continued civil disobedience upon release. Ethel was modern, but that meant something very different 100 years ago. She did what many of her contemporaries did: Ethel announced at her sentencing that she was going on a hunger strike. And she meant it.
This was highly problematic for New York because Ethyl not eating or drinking for 30 days would end with a dead woman whose crime was one that many people did not have an issue with. Of course, there was always force feeding, but that is and was potentially deadly. So New York had a problem: let a woman kill herself on their watch or force feed her repeatedly for a month and possibly kill her in the process.
Force feeding is always painful, often damaging to the soft tissues in the throat and mouth, and it’s very easy to accidentally shove that tube into the windpipe, thereby sending that gruel into the lungs instead of the stomach. Sylvia Pankhurst, a British suffragette who endured force feeding just a couple years before Ethel, wrote a detailed essay on the process and its violence. Here is an excerpt from her essay:
“Some one seized me by the head and thrust a sheet under my chin. I felt a man’s hands trying to force my mouth open. I set my teeth and tightened my lips over them with all my strength. … I felt as if I should suffocate. I felt his fingers trying to press my lips apart, — getting inside, — and I felt them and a steel gag running around my gums and feeling for gaps in my teeth. … I was tugging at my head to get it free. There were two of them holding it. …wrenching at my mouth. … I heard them talking: “Here is a gap.” …Then I felt a steel instrument pressing against my gums, cutting into the flesh, forcing its way in. Then it gradually prised my jaws apart as they turned a screw. It felt like having my teeth drawn; but I resisted — I resisted. I held my poor bleeding gums down on the steel with all my strength. Soon they were trying to force the india-rubber tube down my throat. … They got the tube down, I suppose, though I was unconscious of anything but a mad revolt of struggling, for at last I heard them say, “That’s all”; and I vomited as the tube came up.”
It is important to remember that there is a difference between force feeding and medically assisted nutrition, in which an individual who has medical needs, such as an inability to swallow, is given a feeding tube directly into their stomach. Force feeding still happens today, as a way of forcing prisoners to eat. The methods have changed in the last hundred years, but it remains a grueling and inhumane task. In 2013, Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, intentionally underwent the current process of force feeding to bring attention to the detainees in Guantánamo Bay.
Ethel Byrne’s ordeal
After not eating for a few days, a feeding tube was forcibly pushed into Ethel’s mouth, down her throat, and a thin gruel was dribbled down as she fought. Luckily, the force feeding on Ethel was successful: they got some nutrients into her without causing her to choke to death. However, this horrific experience did not persuade Ethel to eat something. Why should it? Both Ethel and the authorities understood that Ethel had just called “Check” in their game of chess and the state of New York was frantic.
We humans are funny little creatures. We resist change even when our lives are uncomfortable, and yet we have always loved drama. Both Ethel and New York knew her play: she planned on dying in their care, gambling that the scandal would galvanize the masses. Death had worked for English suffragette Emily Davidson in 1913, so why wouldn’t it work for Ethel? Of course, Ethel did not die while on hunger strike, otherwise she might have merited footnote status in a history book, but you have likely never heard of her.
The Governor of New York, Charles Witman, reached out to Margaret Sanger. He hoped that he and Margaret would agree that keeping Ethel alive was more important than the political statement Ethel was absolutely willing to die for. Margaret agreed.
They came to terms for Ethel’s release:
“The prisoner’s release was dependent upon Governor Whitman’s stipulation that she agree to refrain from violating Section 1142 of the New York State Penal Code, which prohibits selling or giving away birth control devices or contraceptive information.” — David M. Dismore, Ms. Magazine
Ethel had been force fed approximately 12 times during the 11 days of her hunger strike. She was transported by ambulance to Margaret’s care. Ethel was not consulted on the terms of her conditional pardon. Instead, Margaret assured Governor Witman that she personally would see to it that Ethel stopped her advocacy. It’s not clear how well Ethel was doing at this point. The prison doctors said Ethel was in good health; Margaret, also a trained nurse, said Ethel was close to death upon her release. There is no record of how or when Ethel found out the terms of her release and the promise Margaret made on Ethel’s behalf. This became a point of resentment between the two.
What would you do if your sister saved your life by taking away your life’s purpose?
According to Jill Leopore in The Secret Life of Wonder Woman, Ethel never forgave Margaret for saving her life and ending her activism work. Dismore suggests that Ethel probably could have continued her activism by moving to another state. I don’t think we know enough about Ethel to determine if moving to another state was actually viable. Nor do we know how traumatic her repeated force feedings were. What we do know is that Ethel Byrne’s public activism ended, and she was forgotten. Margaret Sanger on the other hand, is a name many have heard of.
You see, Margaret might have been desperate to save her baby sister’s life, but she refused to make that deal for herself. Margaret’s trial happened right after Ethel’s and she was in the unique position of negotiating to free Ethel while still on trial herself. February 2, 1917 is the day that Ethel Byrne was released to Margaret Sanger’s care. It’s also the day the court offered Margaret a suspended sentence in exchange for the same promise she had just made for Ethel.
She replied on the stand: “With me it is not a question of personal imprisonment or personal disadvantage. I am today and have always been more concerned with changing the law and the sweeping away of the law, regardless of what I have to undergo to have it done.” — The Margaret Sanger Papers Project
Margaret Sanger was found guilty on February 5 and chose 30 days in the workhouse over the $5,000 fine. However, as she appealed on July 31, it is unclear if or when she served her time. Fania Mindell, their translator, was given a $50 fine. Reading through the court transcripts, it seems clear that the court intentionally gave lean punishments and really just wanted the women to behave. While the judge at times seems frustrated with both Sanger and her lawyer both insisting the law itself is unethical and problematic, it does not seem that he explicitly disagrees with them either.
Margaret Sanger’s influence on American society
Sanger advocated that women have the ability to determine family size and made a huge impact on American society. In fact, that clinic they started would eventually be known as Planned Parenthood, an organization that continues in its original capacity. Our access to contraception and our abilities to manage pregnancies are due in no small part to Margaret Sanger’s relentless activism and willingness to call out unethical laws. She absolutely deserves her place in history. Margaret published multiple essays and books on reproductive health and contraception, the majority of which (ten of the thirteen) were published after Margaret promised to prevent Ethel’s further participation in their cause. What part, if any, did Ethel have on Margaret’s body work? We may never know.
Leopore wrote that Ethel died a bitter, angry alcoholic. I find myself wondering, did Ethel Byrne really melt quietly into a bottle and stop her activism? She never stopped caring about access to and education about contraceptives. She passed her passion on to her daughter, Olive. Olive Byrne not only continued Ethel’s work by distributing contraceptives on her college campus, but is credited as co-inspiration for every girl’s favorite superhero: Wonder Woman.
Was Margaret a devoted sister who cared more about keeping her sister alive than a cause she devoted her life to? Or was Margaret a bit opportunistic when she swore to Governor Witman that she personally would see to it that Ethel never distributed contraceptives again, when she would not agree to those terms for herself? What would you do if you had to choose between your sister and your shared values?
© Aurora Dawn 2024
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