There was a time when birth was treated as a natural process
rather than a medical condition. Before 1800, women gave birth
seated in birth chairs or on stools and were helped along by
midwives. Then societal changes in attitudes toward women and the
practice of medicine made birthing a province of the male-dominated
medical profession.
In "Birth Chairs, Midwives, and Medicine," Amanda Carson Banks
examines the history of the birth chair and tells how this birthing
device changed over time. Through photographs, artists' renditions
of births, interviews, and texts from midwives and early
obstetricians, she creates an evolutionary picture of birthing
practices and highlights the radical redefinition of birth that has
occurred in the last two centuries.
During the 1800s the change from a natural philosophy of birth
to a medical one was partly a result of heightened understandings
of anatomy and physiology. The medical profession was growing, and
with it grew the awareness of the economic rewards of making
delivery a specialized practice. In the background of the medical
profession's rise was the prevailing perception of women as fragile
invalids. Gradually, midwives and birth chairs were relegated to
rural and isolated settings.
The popularity of birth chairs has seen a revival in the late
twentieth century as the struggle between medical obstetrics and
the alternative birth movement has grown. As Banks shows through
her careful examination of the chairs themselves, these questions
have been answered and reconsidered many times in human history.
Using the artifacts from the home and medical office, Banks traces
sweeping societal changes in the philosophy of how to bring life
into the world.
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