A bold new history of women's health and midwifery, brought to life through ancient women's stories of pregnancy and birth.
In the well-trod history of the Roman Empire, a pivotal moment has long gone unnoticed: It was in ancient Rome that medical men first set their sights on childbirth, the traditional domain of female midwives.
Taking us to the dawn of Western obstetrics, A Womb of One's Own offers a feminist account of how, against a long tradition of midwifery, male doctors began claiming authority in reproductive matters, with an emphasis on theoretical rather than practical knowledge. Their intrusion paved the way for the later criminalization of midwives and the cloaking of childbirth in secrecy and shame.
Yet communities of Roman women continued to help each other through the journey from preconception to postpartum, guided by their own experience and the expertise of midwives. Tara Mulder recovers stories of ancient women living and resisting as they sought autonomy over their bodies and their health. Recounting their experiences in vivid, intimate detail, she reveals how old our modern conflicts about birth truly are.
Arvustused
Making an enlightening and engaging book debut, Mulder, a scholar of classical and Near Eastern studiesand a midwifes daughteroffers a feminist history of birth in the Roman Empire during the centuries that straddle the year 0. . . . A fresh, edifying contribution to womens history." * Kirkus Reviews *
Contents
List of Illustrations
Notes on Herbal and Medical Terminology, Translations, and Dates
Map of the Roman Empire
Introduction
1. Cyrilla Faints in the Bath
2. Cyrillas Flux and Other Fluids
3. The Self-Observant Women Get Pregnant
4. Controlling Conception
5. Corinna Has an Abortion
6. Pregnancy Problems and Prenatal Care
7. Petronilla Petitions the Magistrates
8. The Real Midwives of Ancient Rome
9. At the Birth
10. Difficult Birth
11. After Birth
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Glossary of Herbal and Medical Terms
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Tara Mulder is Assistant Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of WisconsinMadison. As the daughter of a homebirth midwife, she has assisted in over two dozen births.
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