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Jenette Eccleston
History/Women’s and Gender Studies

Elizabeth Reis, Mentor

Reforming the Sexual Menace: Early 1900s Eugenic Sterilization in Oregon

As public welfare reform evolved in the late 1910s, Progressive reformers sought to improve society by focusing on the elimination of crime, disability, and poverty. At the same time, reformers, persuaded by the newly emerging science of eugenics, presented far-reaching solutions, including the involuntary sterilization of individuals deemed social menaces. In 1917, Oregon became the fourteenth state to enact compulsory sterilization laws. The laws provided for the forced sterilization of thousands of Oregonians labeled “feeble-minded, insane, epileptic, habitual criminals, moral degenerates, or sexual perverts.” Although sterilization laws claimed to be eugenic and therapeutic rather than punitive, mandatory sterilization worked to control sexual behavior inside and outside institutions by labeling certain groups of people’s sexual practices “deviant.”