Start Date

12-6-2011 9:30 AM

End Date

12-6-2011 12:00 PM

Subject Areas

North America, bodies, gender, motherhood, reproduction

Abstract

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the formative years for embryology, scientists strengthened the notion that human creatures grew within the wombs of pregnant women. Yet women’s personal writings show that they had little inclination to think of their conditions as inclusive of someone inside their bodies. For most American women throughout the nineteenth century, the state of pregnancy remained a symbol of a future child rather than the reality of a developing fetus. This paper uses the personal writings of American women from 1820 to 1900 to investigate the language and attitudes of pregnancy as a bodily condition. I argue that even with the increasing number of embryos on display at fairs and museums, as well as in popular health guides, women resisted the idea that the pregnant body contained another person. For these women, their pregnant bodies were large and nerve-wracking, but rarely did these bodies shelter another individual.

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Jun 12th, 9:30 AM Jun 12th, 12:00 PM

The Imaginary Number 10: American Women's Descriptions of Their Pregnant Bodies, 1820-1900

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the formative years for embryology, scientists strengthened the notion that human creatures grew within the wombs of pregnant women. Yet women’s personal writings show that they had little inclination to think of their conditions as inclusive of someone inside their bodies. For most American women throughout the nineteenth century, the state of pregnancy remained a symbol of a future child rather than the reality of a developing fetus. This paper uses the personal writings of American women from 1820 to 1900 to investigate the language and attitudes of pregnancy as a bodily condition. I argue that even with the increasing number of embryos on display at fairs and museums, as well as in popular health guides, women resisted the idea that the pregnant body contained another person. For these women, their pregnant bodies were large and nerve-wracking, but rarely did these bodies shelter another individual.