Chapter Three Medical maternity cases
Abstract
Childbirth stands uncomfortably at the junction of the two worlds of nature and culture. Like death and disease, it is a biological event, but the defining feature of biological events in human life is their social character. The way people are born and die, their assignations with illness and health, cannot be explained and predicted purely on the basis of knowledge about the biological functioning of the human organism. Bodies function in a social world and the parameters of this world supply an influence of their own.
But the components of nature and culture are more potently and ambiguously mixed in the case of reproduction than in other physiological states. Having babies must be deeply natural, since the architecture of the female body fits women for this role, the production of children follows naturally from that other human occupation, heterosexual congress, and the replacement of the population is necessary for human survival. Yet, at the same time, and because of these features, reproduction is a cultural activity: it has far-reaching consequences for the life of a society. Particular childbirths create or break families, establish the ownership of property and entitlements to poverty or privilege; they may alter the statuses, rights and responsibilities of persons, communities and nations.
The other paradox is that only women are the true dramatis personae of childbirth. They thus personify the union of nature (biological reproducer) and culture (social person) directly. The association between a biological emptying of the uterus and the social character of its product, a child, poses a cultural dilemma, but so also does the very existence of women.
Abstract
Childbirth stands uncomfortably at the junction of the two worlds of nature and culture. Like death and disease, it is a biological event, but the defining feature of biological events in human life is their social character. The way people are born and die, their assignations with illness and health, cannot be explained and predicted purely on the basis of knowledge about the biological functioning of the human organism. Bodies function in a social world and the parameters of this world supply an influence of their own.
But the components of nature and culture are more potently and ambiguously mixed in the case of reproduction than in other physiological states. Having babies must be deeply natural, since the architecture of the female body fits women for this role, the production of children follows naturally from that other human occupation, heterosexual congress, and the replacement of the population is necessary for human survival. Yet, at the same time, and because of these features, reproduction is a cultural activity: it has far-reaching consequences for the life of a society. Particular childbirths create or break families, establish the ownership of property and entitlements to poverty or privilege; they may alter the statuses, rights and responsibilities of persons, communities and nations.
The other paradox is that only women are the true dramatis personae of childbirth. They thus personify the union of nature (biological reproducer) and culture (social person) directly. The association between a biological emptying of the uterus and the social character of its product, a child, poses a cultural dilemma, but so also does the very existence of women.
Chapters in this book
- 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
Chapters in this book
- 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
