William J. Robinson
William Josephus Robinson (December 8, 1867 – January 6, 1936) was an American physician, sexologist and birth control advocate. He was Chief of the department of Genito-Urinary Diseases at Bronx Hospital Dispensary, and editor of the American Journal of Urology and Sexology.[1] Robinson was active in the birth control movement in the United States.[2] He was "the first American physician to demand that contraceptive knowledge be taught to medical students and [...] probably the most influential and popular of the American physicians writing on birth control in the first three decades of the twentieth century".[3]
As well as his own medical writings, Robinson edited the works of the pioneering pediatrician Abraham Jacobi. He was also a freethinking critic of Christianity.[4]
Works
- (ed.) Dr. Jacobi's works. Collected essays, addresses, scientific papers and miscellaneous writings of A. Jacobi, 1909
- Never-told tales, 1909
- (with Leo Jacobi and others) Sex morality: past present and future, 1912. Online here. Reviewed by Horace Traubel, The Conservator 23:73 (July 1912).[5]
- Sexual problems of today, 1912. Reviewed by Horace Traubel, The Conservator 23:139 (November 1912).[5]
- 'Walt Whitman and sex', The Conservator 24:53 (June 1913).[5]
- A practical treatise on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of sexual impotence and other sexual disorders in men and women, 1913
- The treatment of gonorrhea and its complications in men and women, for the general practitioner, 1915
- Fewer and better babies, birth control; or, The limitation of offspring by prevenception, 1916
- Birth Control, or, The Limitation of Offspring, 1916, The Critic and Guide Co.
- Woman: her sex and love life, 1917
- Eugenics, Marriage and Birth Control: (Practical Eugenics), 1917
- Woman: Her sex and love life, 1929, Eugenics publishing.
- Sexual Truths versus Sexual Lies, Misconceptions, and Exaggerations, 1919, The American Biological Society.
- Married Life and Happiness, or, Love and Comfort in Marriage, 1922, Eugenics Publishing Co.
- A doctor's view on life, 1927. Edited by Eden and Cedar Paul.
- Sex, love and morality : a rational code of sexual ethics based upon the highest principle of morality--the principle of human happiness; the last word on the subject, 1928
- Practical prevenception; or, The technique of birth control; giving the latest methods of prevention of conception, discussing their effect, favorable or unfavorable, on the sex act; their indications and contra-indications, pointing out the reasons for failures and how to avoid them. For the medical profession only, 1929
- The oldest profession in the world; prostitution, its underlying causes, its treatment and its future, 1929
- If I were God: a freethinker's faith, incorporating a discussion between the author and a Catholic priest, New York: The Freethought Press Association, 1930. With an introduction by Harry Elmer Barnes. Online at the Internet Archive.
- Rosary of Lay Saints, New York: The Freethough Press Association, 1932
- Soviet Russia as I saw it; its crimes and stupidities, 1932
- Happiness and how to attain it, 1933
- Medical and sex dictionary, 1933
- The law against abortion; its perniciousness demonstrated and its repeal demanded, 1933
- Our mysterious life glands and how they affect us. A popular treatise on our glands and their secretions - what they do to us, how they affect our health, growth, appearance, temper, mentality, and character; including the vitamins, 1934
References
- Robinson (1929), author description on title page
- Engelman, Peter, A History of the Birth Control Movement in America, 2011, pp. 35–37
- 'Robinson, William Josephus', in Vern L. Bullough, ed., Encyclopedia of birth control, p. 229
- Alois Payer, Religionskritisches von William Josephus Robinson
- Reprinted in Gary Schmidgall, Conserving Walt Whitman's fame: selections from Horace Traubel's Conservator, University of Iowa Press, 2006.