Introduction
Abstract
The bodies of women give birth to children, anchoring motherhood firmly in what we think of as nature; but both women and motherhood are subject to the complex formulations of culture. This makes the experiences of women bearing children a fascinating topic for academics to study: how do women experience childbirth and motherhood? How do biology and social representation interact? Why is culture, in the form of the medical profession and other ‘experts’, so apparently intent on defining what motherhood is and how childbirth must happen? Such questions are crucial to any project of feminist social science, and they have featured prominently in work over the last 30 years (see, for example, Leifer, 1980; Roberts, 1981b; Rothman, 1982; Martin,1987; Rothman, 1988,1989; Kahn, 1995).
The extracts in Part 3 come from two books: Becoming a mother (1979, later reprinted as From here to maternity) and Women confined: Towards a sociology of childbirth (1980).Together these report on a study I did which focused on the experiences of 66 women having their first babies in London in 1975-76.The women, mainly young and middle class, were interviewed twice in pregnancy and twice after birth, and I also attended some of the births. Before this, I carried out an observational study of antenatal clinics in the hospital in which the women were booked to have their babies. This generated transcripts of hundreds of encounters between women and doctors, some of which are drawn on in Part 3, Chapter One.
I wrote two books about the transition to motherhood project, rather than one, because there were a lot of important things to say about women becoming mothers.
Abstract
The bodies of women give birth to children, anchoring motherhood firmly in what we think of as nature; but both women and motherhood are subject to the complex formulations of culture. This makes the experiences of women bearing children a fascinating topic for academics to study: how do women experience childbirth and motherhood? How do biology and social representation interact? Why is culture, in the form of the medical profession and other ‘experts’, so apparently intent on defining what motherhood is and how childbirth must happen? Such questions are crucial to any project of feminist social science, and they have featured prominently in work over the last 30 years (see, for example, Leifer, 1980; Roberts, 1981b; Rothman, 1982; Martin,1987; Rothman, 1988,1989; Kahn, 1995).
The extracts in Part 3 come from two books: Becoming a mother (1979, later reprinted as From here to maternity) and Women confined: Towards a sociology of childbirth (1980).Together these report on a study I did which focused on the experiences of 66 women having their first babies in London in 1975-76.The women, mainly young and middle class, were interviewed twice in pregnancy and twice after birth, and I also attended some of the births. Before this, I carried out an observational study of antenatal clinics in the hospital in which the women were booked to have their babies. This generated transcripts of hundreds of encounters between women and doctors, some of which are drawn on in Part 3, Chapter One.
I wrote two books about the transition to motherhood project, rather than one, because there were a lot of important things to say about women becoming mothers.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Sources of extracts iv
- Foreword by Germaine Greer vi
- Preface ix
-
Sex and gender
- Introduction 2
- The difference between sex and gender 7
- Genes and gender 13
- A kind of person 21
- Childhood lessons 31
- Science, gender and women’s liberation 41
-
Housework and family life
- Introduction 54
- On studying housework 59
- Images of housework 63
- Work conditions 75
- Standards and routines 87
- Marriage and the division of labour 93
- Helping with baby 103
- Housework in history and culture 109
-
Childbirth, motherhood and medicine
- Introduction 118
- The agony and the ecstasy 123
- Lessons mothers learn 139
- Medical maternity cases 151
- Mistakes and mystiques of motherhood 179
-
Doing social science
- Introduction 184
- The invisible woman: sexism in sociology 189
- Reflections thirty years on 207
- On being interviewed 211
- Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms? 217
- Who’s afraid of the randomized controlled trial? Some dilemmas of the scientific method and ‘good’ research practice 233
- Paradigm wars: some thoughts on a personal and public trajectory 245
- General bibliography 251
- Bibliography of work by Ann Oakley 281
- Ann Oakley: further reading 285
- Index 295
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Sources of extracts iv
- Foreword by Germaine Greer vi
- Preface ix
-
Sex and gender
- Introduction 2
- The difference between sex and gender 7
- Genes and gender 13
- A kind of person 21
- Childhood lessons 31
- Science, gender and women’s liberation 41
-
Housework and family life
- Introduction 54
- On studying housework 59
- Images of housework 63
- Work conditions 75
- Standards and routines 87
- Marriage and the division of labour 93
- Helping with baby 103
- Housework in history and culture 109
-
Childbirth, motherhood and medicine
- Introduction 118
- The agony and the ecstasy 123
- Lessons mothers learn 139
- Medical maternity cases 151
- Mistakes and mystiques of motherhood 179
-
Doing social science
- Introduction 184
- The invisible woman: sexism in sociology 189
- Reflections thirty years on 207
- On being interviewed 211
- Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms? 217
- Who’s afraid of the randomized controlled trial? Some dilemmas of the scientific method and ‘good’ research practice 233
- Paradigm wars: some thoughts on a personal and public trajectory 245
- General bibliography 251
- Bibliography of work by Ann Oakley 281
- Ann Oakley: further reading 285
- Index 295
