Ourselves As Mothers: The Universal Experience Of MotherhoodSheila Kitzinger writes with understanding of the problems facing mothers in the West today, about the pain of infertility, the struggles of working mothers, the myth of the "new man", the underrating of housework, and the ways in which women try to juggle their identities as both mothers and achievers in today's world. Citing examples from India to Jamaica, South Africa to Communist China, she reveals what motherhood means in our own and different cultures. From preparing for pregnancy to the ritualization of hospital birth, from the bonds forged between mother and child to the changes in behavior expected of women when they become mothers, Kitzinger's unique anthropological exploration enables us to reflect upon and reexamine our own rituals. Ourselves as Mothers is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging study of its kind, and an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of women and society. It is a celebration of the diversity, the ingenuity, the energy, and the courage of the great sisterhood of mothers. |
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Page 42
... born may be divided by the number of women in the program , so that if one in ten achieves a pregnancy with sextuplets , it is reported as a 60 percent success rate . In vitro fertilization brings with it the risk of multiple births ...
... born may be divided by the number of women in the program , so that if one in ten achieves a pregnancy with sextuplets , it is reported as a 60 percent success rate . In vitro fertilization brings with it the risk of multiple births ...
Page 78
... born , like the person who has died , have an abnormal ritual status and are thus in danger . In my anthropological fieldwork in Jamaica I recorded a wide range of rules that guide the pregnant woman and regulate her daily life . If she ...
... born , like the person who has died , have an abnormal ritual status and are thus in danger . In my anthropological fieldwork in Jamaica I recorded a wide range of rules that guide the pregnant woman and regulate her daily life . If she ...
Page 167
... born at the end of about nine months , or his or her head , containing a brain that has a volume of between 375 and 400 cubic centimeters as compared with that of a chimpanzee or gorilla , which measures only about 200 cubic centimeters ...
... born at the end of about nine months , or his or her head , containing a brain that has a volume of between 375 and 400 cubic centimeters as compared with that of a chimpanzee or gorilla , which measures only about 200 cubic centimeters ...
Contents
Mothers Cut to Shape | 17 |
The Empty Womb | 33 |
Experimenting with Motherhood | 63 |
Copyright | |
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abdomen adult African baby's become behavior blood body born breast-feeding ceremonies cervix cesarean section Chaim Bermant chil child child-rearing childbearing childbirth clinic couple delivered delivery doctor dren drugs emotional epidural episiotomy experience father feeding feel female fertility fetus girl give birth hands hospital household human husband important Jamaican Jewish John Bowlby kibbutz laboring woman live London look male marriage massage maternal menstruating midwifery midwives modern months mother and baby motherhood nana National Childbirth Trust never normal obstetric obstetrician oxytocin pain parents partner patient percent perineum Pethidine placenta preg pregnancy pregnant woman prenatal relationship responsibility risk ritual role sexual Sheila Kitzinger social sometimes technological things tion touch traditional cultures traditional societies treated Truby King United usually uterus vagina vitro fertilization weeks West Western wife women