It is clear that Charles Darwin worried about the inherited consequences of cousin marriage, & therefore about his own ‘responsibility’ for the health problems of his children
We also know that, like most Victorian men, he worried about money & his continued ability to support a family
He was a close student of Malthus & would have understood about ‘moral restraint’
He also knew about contraception, but was against it on moral & social grounds
Of course we also know that he revelled in the role of paterfamilias & that the home, despite trials, tribulations, sadness & grief was a happy one, the relationship between the parents solid & intimate – Emma was the principle nurse during his bouts of sickness
Today such ‘reproductive behaviour’ would be almost universally condemned, in our society, from many different points of view: carbon footprints, broken society, women’s liberation …
How did we get from the Victorian situation to that of today, when we seriously debate how to encourage children in the use of contraception
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