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. |
Contents
Mothers Cut to Shape | 17 |
The Empty Womb | 33 |
Experimenting with Motherhood | 63 |
Copyright | |
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adult African baby's become behavior blood body born breast-feeding CALIFORNIA/SANTA CRUZ CALIFORNIA/SANTA CRUZ UNIVERSITY ceremony cervix cesarean section child childbearing childbirth clinic couple CRUZ The University delivered delivery doctor drugs emotional epidural episiotomy experience father feeding feel female fertility fetus girl give birth hands home birth hospital household human husband Jamaican John Bowlby kibbutz laboring woman live London look male marriage massage maternal midwifery midwives months mother and baby motherhood nana National Childbirth Trust 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 United University Library UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SANTA usually uterus vagina vitro fertilization weeks West Western wife women