Mary Fissell 's Vernacular Bodies : The Politics Of Reproduction

In Kleist’s novella The Marquise of O, the narrative depicts the account of the Marquise of O’s, a young Italian window and a “lady of unblemished reputation”(Kleist 68), sudden impregnation and her subsequent attempts to solve the question of the paternity of her child. Through the contrasting interactions between the characters from the Marquise’s estrangement with her family to her eventual reconciliation, Kleist utilizes the search for her unborn child’s father to provide a social commentary on how tensions of uncertainty complicate the search for truth and identity within established gender relationships and traditional social constructs.

The women of the Elizabethan Era were owned their entire lives either through family, marriage, or employment. The only real job available to a woman was to be a house wife. This society treated a woman who supported herself with suspicion. “It was often

In the economy of 1709 there were a lot of women that had very bright futures as mothers and wives also the way the women impacted their communities, but there were some that didn’t get so lucky. In this time “the women are very fruitful; most houses are filled with little ones… They have very easy travail in their child-bearing, in which they are so happy, as seldom miscarry…” (Voices of Freedom 61). The readers can see that some women had a very joyous life but there are some that were called witches and burned or hung for it. In New England “most were women beyond child-bearing age who were outspoken, economically independent, or estranged from their husbands…” (An American History 89). It’s really amazing on the two points of view of

Most Americans associate hospitals to be the standard place where women can give birth. However, women did not always deliver in hospitals. Gynecology, the medical practice dealing with the female reproductive system, did not emerge until the early nineteenth century. Before doctors came along, women used to hire midwives to deliver babies in the comfort of their own homes. In this paper I will examine the social, political, and scientific implications of how giving birth has transitioned from being a midwife’s job into that of a doctor’s. Furthermore, I will attempt to show how these implications intersect together to make birth a feminist issue. To support my argument, I will be referencing Tina Cassidy’s “The Dawn of the Doctors,” Abby Epstein’s documentary film The Business of Being Born, and Eesha Pandit’s article “America’s secret history of forced sterilization: Remembering a disturbing and not-so-distant past.” I argue that the processes surrounding birth are intersectional feminist issues because they are often manipulated by male figures pursuing money and authority, which ultimately compromises women’s health and power of choice.

Firstly, Ulrich tells a story of the role of a midwife in the eighteenth century America by explaining the types of medicines used, the frequent diseases, and the medical accomplishments of practitioners. Primarily, Ulrich makes it known that to care for the health and well-being of others was a woman’s obligation during this time. “It would be a serious misunderstanding to see Martha Ballard as a singular character, an unusual woman who somehow transcended the domestic sphere to become an acknowledged specialist” (62). Rather, Ulrich insists that Martha Ballard was a classic example of the majority of women in the early American Republic. Martha was a midwife, but also a wife and mother, which meant she had her “womanly” duties to pay attention to as

Men die in battle; women die in childbirth” (Gregory 1). This quote from the historical novel “The Red Queen” presents a straightforward reality that women and men believed before the advancements of modern medicine. In accordance with past social norms the time periods between the 17th and 19th century have shown that women would always hold the role as the weaker sex. Between the prejudice of men who considered themselves superior and the way history portrayed woman in a submissive light, there was no understanding of what women experienced throughout their lives. There may have been a few incidences that made an appearance here or there, but their significance would soon lose recognition in the masses of that time. Unfortunately, the only role that was considerably memorable for women during these eras was marrying into a well-off family and producing children. Still, even in this aspect of their lives women were viewed as inadequate. Childbirth held no advantage for men and midwifery was considered a profession that only a woman would be fitted for. In the late 1800’s a prominent surgeon by the name Sir Anthony Carlisle even went as far as to say that midwifery was a “humiliating office” and therefore “suitable only to women”( Massey 1). However, comments and thoughts like this would prove to be invalid as men became more immersed in the practice of childbirth. Fear of death led women of higher status away from traditional practices of female midwifery and they turned

Originally Sarah was given “an abortifacient,” otherwise known as the “trade” to eliminate the new fetus. Her lover, Amasa Sessions, thrust the trade upon her to take in order to provoke a miscarriage. However, by the time Sarah began taking the substance, she was already more than three months pregnant and soon it was discovered that the trade did not result in a miscarriage as they had hoped (119). Amasa reached out to “self-proclaimed physician,” John Hallowell, who stepped in after Sarah’s stomach was becoming progressively larger and initiated a manual extraction of the premature fetus. Two days later, Sarah miscarried and then a month later, as a result of the botched abortion, Sarah succumbed to a “Malignant infection” (117). For reasons unknown, it took three years for legal proceedings to occur in the investigation of Sarah’s death. The court proceedings and the way in which trials transpired are exceptionally illustrated by Dayton. It cannot be overstated how crucial the topic of abortion, as well as the societal viewpoint of the act was during the mid 18th century in the north. Returning to the issue of female identity and sexuality, the question of why did Sarah, her friends, and family go out of their way to cover-up and lie about an induced abortion? Or as Dayton stated, “pledged themselves in a conspiracy of silence, [allowing] the abortion plot to unfold”

The modern world is in the midst of reconstructing gender roles; debates about contraception, reproductive freedom, and female inequality are contentious and common. The majority now challenges the long established assertion that women’s bodies are the eminent domain of patriarchal control. In the past, a woman’s inability to control her reproductive choices could come with ruinous consequences. Proponents of patriarchal control argue against reproductive independence with rhetoric from religious texts and with anecdotes of ‘better days,’ when women were subservient. Often, literature about childbearing fails to acknowledge the possibility of women being uninterested in fulfilling the role of motherhood.

Martha Ballard is an 18th century midwife, herbalist, and physician who, for twenty seven years, kept a daily diary. By looking into Martha Ballard’s life we, as historians, gain valuable insight into the everyday lives of women in a brand new country, just on the cusp of beginning. We also discover that Martha’s accounts sometimes greatly differ from accepted historical truths. These can be seen in the difference between both economic history, legal documentation, and popular media written by men. Two of these star new discoveries can be evidenced in medical practices Martha uses and Martha’s importance in

The idea of childbirth has been viewed in three peculiar ways: a social natural occurrence, as a passage to an early death, and in present times a medical procedure needed when having children. In the seventieth and eighteenth century childbirth was seen as a social celebration conducted by midwives, while in the nineteenth century fear of death arose due to an increase of maternal mortality rates. This time period also served as a transition time between the elimination of the midwife and the emergence of the physician. The transition was due to attitude changes and knowledge understanding. During the twentieth century, medical knowledge expanded and thus the idea of childbirth was medicalized into a medical procedure needed to have healthy children. Childbirth once seen as a natural phenomenon was now an event that needed medical attention by health facilitators at institutions of health. The ideas around childbirth developed based on the knowledge, cultural setting, mortality rates, and professionals available at the time. Based on these ideas it is easy to see how social and behavioral aspects influenced childbirth throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, ninetieth and twentieth centuries. In addition, the communities’ views on childbirth were influenced by the development of public health infrastructure, public health policy advancement and how well public officials were able to disseminate information.

Katherine Parr is most famous in history for being the “one who survived” of the six wives of the ruthless Tudor monarch, King Henry VIII. She did not come from a long line of nobles when it came to family. Over the course of two hundred years, her father’s family rose to the lower levels of British nobility through sheep herding and selling of wool. In 1508, her father, Thomas Parr, married Maud Parr, the daughter of another nobleman, and when Henry VIII ascended to the throne of England in April 1509, Thomas Parr secured the Parrs’ noble status and minor wealth. As the eldest daughter, Katherine Parr’s destiny should have followed the path of many lower-noblewomen of her era: marrying a fellow noble and producing noble heirs. No one could

Another young woman, Ella Thomas, described her pregnancy in a manner that further complicates interpreting historical pregnancy. While having a miscarriage, Ella describes herself as sick but does not appear to be bothered by the event. Despite experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, Ella does not describe her pregnancy within these terms. If anything, she finds her symptoms a nuisance (Thomas). Furthermore, her own pregnancy has led her to sympathize with other pregnant women. She mentions in the diary that if she had “sole management” of a plantation that “pregnant women would be highly favored…whether black of white” (Thomas). The distinction of “sole management” here is fascinating because it implies that her husband would not be in charge in this case, and that if he were in charge he would be less likely to show favor to pregnant women because he personally could not understand the experience (Thomas).

In these times many women would not be allowed to go to school and would have to manage the household of the family. However “women who come from wealthy and noble families were sometimes allowed the privilege of an education but were not welcome to attend universities but could still finish education, In these times Manners, Etiquette and dancing skills were of great importance.” Women at the time did not inherit anything from the family if there was a son, no matter the age or amount of women and men in the

Saada’s exploration of the importance of fatherhood of mixed children demonstrates just how important patriarchy was in not only French society, but in each of the individual colonies. Not only did a child’s paternity determine their place in society, but how the mother of the child was received by the society; for example, many Vietnamese women were made to be concubines once they gave birth to a non-native child (a statement that Saada reiterates multiple times throughout the text).

Women withstood a multitude of limitations in the medieval era. Due to the political, social, and religious restrictions women encountered, historians neglected to realize that they demonstrated agency. The female experience is something that has been overlooked until recently. Unfortunately, without the knowledge of how women found ways to exert their power, we are experiencing a deficit of knowledge in this period. Through the close examination of the primary sources: The Gospel of Mary, Dhouda’s Liber Manualis, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the creative means of female force are displayed.