The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction

Front Cover
Beacon Press, 2001 M08 1 - 312 pages
A bold reappraisal of science and society, The Woman in the Body explores the different ways that women's reproduction is seen in American culture. Contrasting the views of medical science with those of ordinary women from diverse social and economic backgrounds, anthropologist Emily Martin presents unique fieldwork on American culture and uncovers the metaphors of economy and alienation that pervade women's imaging of themselves and their bodies. A new preface examines some of the latest medical ideas about women's reproductive cycles.

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Contents

The Familiar and the Exotic
3
Fragmentation and Gender
15
Science as a Cultural System
25
Medical Metaphors of Womens Bodies Menstruation and Menopause
27
Medical Metaphors of Womens Bodies Birth
54
Womens Vantage Point
69
Self and Body Image
71
Menstruation Work and Class
92
Menopause Power and Heat
166
Consciousness and Ideology
179
Class and Resistance
181
The Embodiment of Oppositions
194
Interview Questions
205
Biographical Profiles
209
Notes
225
References
243

Premenstrual Syndrome Work Discipline and Anger
113
Birth Resistance Race and Class
139
The Creation of New Birth Imagery
156

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About the author (2001)

Emily Martin is professor of anthropology at Princeton University and author of Flexible Bodies: Tracking Immunity in American Culture from the Days of Polio to the Age of AIDS.

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