Dutch Society for Sexual Reform
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The Dutch Society for Sexual Reform is a Dutch organization known by the acronym NVSH (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Seksuele Hervorming). The NVSH was founded in 1946, as the successor of the Dutch Neo-Malthusian League, a birth control organisation which opened the first birth control clinic in the world in 1881, in Amsterdam. The NVSH was once the only source of condoms in the Netherlands.
Up to the 1960s, a great deal of energy went into building up the organisation, which in its heyday ran over 60 birth control clinics in The Netherlands. Much work in those early years was put into improving the quality and availability of contraceptives (condom, diaphragm and spermicidal jelly). In 1966 the society reached a membership of 220,000. Contraceptives were officially legalized in 1970, after which membership began to fall. At present, the number is about 1500.[citation needed]
The NVSH claims to run ‘the most comprehensive site about sexuality’ on the internet.
The NVSH aims at the sexual emancipation of individuals and the improvement of sexual conditions in society.
Its aims are:
- Equality for men and women
- Availability of good contraception and abortion services
- Informative sex education at all levels of education
- Training of sex teachers and researchers at university level
- No restraints on pornography
- Criticism of marriage and the family
- No discrimination against any form of voluntary sex
- Critical concern about population growth
Some of these goals have been attained, such as the provision of good contraception and abortion services, whereas other targets are as far away as they were, such as the integration of sex education in all spheres of life. Other topics have suffered a backlash and are under a stricter taboo than they were before, for instance child sexuality.
The term "sex-positive" applies.
[edit] References
- Gé Nabrink, Seksuele Hervorming in Nederland, 1881-1971, SUN, Nijmegen, 1978.
- De Nieuwe Sekstant, NVSH-magazine, 2005 (Dutch) [1]