UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Unlike in the eugenics movement in the United States, in which generally white, highly educated, Christian reformers discouraged reproduction among African Americans and non- Anglo Saxon immigrants deemed “unfit,” Jewish social reformers in Argentina attempted to delineate the boundaries of membership within their own community. Esras Noschim’s morality certification system and particular concern with prostitute mothers as a degenerative influence on future generations revealed deep anxiety with the legacy of the substantial local connection between Jews and organized prostitution.