Selling Anonymity: The Market for Secrecy Around Illegitimate Births

Abstract

Giving birth out of wedlock was associated for centuries with shame, economic burden, and secrecy. Unmarried pregnant women could escape stigma by travelling away from home and purchasing a confinement elsewhere. They could hide there when the pregnancy started to show, give birth, have their children adopted or sent to foster care, and then return home. This article explores the social economy of this stigma by investigating the market for anonymous births in Sweden through newspaper advertisements addressing unmarried pregnant women during the period 1905–1935. It shows that unmarried pregnant women risked exploitation when entering this market, in which private midwives, private maternity homes and individuals offering accommodation and employment were all operating.