ANTH 2170 Lecture 3: The Reproductive Body
29 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
All human societies regard childbirth as more than a mere biological event. Transition in social status from "woman" to "mother" (and "man" to "father") as rite of passage. Something that transforms one person"s social status into another. Variety of ideas about protection of pregnant woman and unborn child during period of vulnerability. In the interest of the health of the child, technological methods come first but decision belongs to the mother. Transforming female body in the body-machine: male body as prototype, female body as inherently abnormal, defective, dangerously unpredictable, in need of (male manipulation) Marked by cartesian mind-body dualism plus male-dominated theology (women as inferior, "closer to nature") Viewing pregnancy and birth as medical problem (medicalization), not as normal biological event; pregnant woman as passive and dependant patient. Defining hospital as high-tech factory (technologization), turning the new mother into secondary by-product to the birth process. Obstetrics as ritual: birth process as conveying central social values of.
