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Behind the Scenes Minis: Alaska and Contraceptives

March 20, 2026·28 min·2 clips

Holly didn't realize how differently federal native policy played out in Alaska compared to the contiguous U.S.

1. Stuff You Missed in History Class Behind the Scenes Mini covers two recent episodes: Elizabeth Peratrovich and Alaska anti-discrimination law, and the history of the IUD. 2. Hosts Tracy Wilson and Holly Frey reflect informally on research challenges, personal experiences, and topics they didn't have space to cover in the main episodes. 3. The episode is conversational and personal in tone, functioning as an extended listener-community check-in between the two hosts. 4. Tracy explains she expected a straightforward biography of Elizabeth Peratrovich but instead needed a primer on federal native policy in Alaska, which she found was a completely different trajectory from the lower-48 during the same time periods. 5. The key distinction is that the Alaska Purchase Treaty did not include any treaties with any of Alaska's indigenous or native peoples, of whom there are at least 11 distinct cultures, unlike the extensive — if heavily biased — treaty history with lower-48 Indigenous nations. 6. Tracy found one source that incorrectly stated all Alaska native peoples became US citizens instantly at the Alaska Purchase from Russia, which contradicted all other sources; she was relieved she hadn't read it first. 7. She also encountered multiple contradictory sources on the year and details of the reapportionment of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, eventually arriving at what she believes is the correct version. 8. Both hosts note that the Alaska Native Brotherhood's advocacy evolved significantly over more than a century, paralleling shifts in Indigenous advocacy in the lower-48, and they coin the term 'flippy-dippy-doo' for such position reversals. 9. For the IUD segment, Tracy describes getting a copper IUD in 2012 in Georgia because every hormonal contraceptive caused unwanted side effects, and her mother's breast cancer diagnosis — treated with estrogen blockers — made her uncomfortable with hormonal methods. 10. Tracy's Georgia OBGYN prescribed misoprostol off-label to soften the cervix, and Tracy was uncertain whether she could fill the prescription — which is also used in medical abortions — without being hassled at the pharmacy; she was not. 11. Tracy describes her 2012 insertion as 'very fast' and 'not too bad,' comparable to having a dental crown swapped without pain management, noting she drove herself to work immediately after. 12. After moving from Georgia to Massachusetts, a new doctor recommended removal due to increased risk of the aging device breaking during removal, with fragments requiring a more complex extraction. 13. At a subsequent removal consultation, Tracy's OBGYN unsolicited offered six escalating pain management options: over-the-counter pain relief, prescription oral pain relief, topical lidocaine on the cervix, a paracervical block via injection, an oral sedative requiring a driver, and full anesthesia at a separate office with a nurse anesthetist. 14. Tracy notes that her doctor's approach was consistent with current clinical guidelines, and that 'just take some Advil' advice that she had heard for over a decade was not in line with those guidelines. 15. Holly explains she has never considered an IUD due to medical anxiety — not about the procedure itself being uncomfortable but a persistent fear that something is slowly going wrong inside her body weeks later. 16. Both hosts reference the Dalkon Shield — an IUD recalled in the 1970s for serious health risks — whose television removal campaigns featured alarming imagery that Holly credits with informing her medical anxiety about IUDs. 17. Tracy notes that modern IUDs are small T-shaped devices inserted in a straight line, very different from the Dalkon Shield's spider-like design. 18. Tracy mentions that some 1960s IUD promotion framed the device as a good method for poorer populations globally based on an assumption those populations could not reliably use other contraceptives — an insulting framing she notes the episode touched on without going deeply into the eugenics connection. 19. The episode is informal, personal, and candid throughout, with digressions into kids' TV shows including Molly of Denali and Pingu. 20. Listeners who want the substantive historical content about Elizabeth Peratrovich or IUD history should listen to the main episodes, not this mini.

As heard by us

A candid behind-the-scenes mini that makes contraceptive care feel specific, practical, and human.

This behind-the-scenes mini is at its strongest when Tracy P. Wilson talks plainly about choosing a copper IUD. Her reasons are specific without turning clinical: hormonal contraception had brought unwanted side effects, her mother's breast cancer history made her uneasy about…

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