A bold new history of women's health, 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.
- 372 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- 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 . Cyrilla’s 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
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Yes, you can access A Womb of One's Own by Tara Mulder in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Roman Ancient History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.