author
Iva Lowther Peters
1876–1961
A scholar of social customs and women’s lives, this early 20th-century writer explored subjects that many people of her era treated as off-limits. Her surviving works connect psychology, sociology, education, and women’s employment in a way that still feels curious and wide-ranging.
1 Audiobook
Taboo and genetics : A study of the biological, sociological and psychological foundation of the family
by Melvin M. (Melvin Moses) Knight, Phyllis Blanchard, Iva Lowther Peters
About the author
Iva Lowther Peters was an American writer and researcher whose published work focused on social taboo, family life, education, and women’s opportunities. Records linked to her name identify her as the author of The Institutionalized Sex Taboo and as a co-author of Taboo and Genetics, a study that brought together biological, sociological, and psychological ideas about the family.
Her broader bibliography shows a strong interest in practical questions affecting women’s lives. Works such as Social and Vocational Orientation for College Women and A Study of Employability of Women in Selected Sections of the United States suggest a career shaped not only by theory, but also by education and women’s work in modern society.
Although biographical details about her life are scarce in the sources readily available online, her publications show a thoughtful, interdisciplinary mind. She wrote about topics that sat at the intersection of custom, gender, and social change, leaving behind work that reflects important debates of the early 1900s.