Rickets, Race and Reproduction: Contracted Pelvis and the American Way of Birth - Couverture souple

McGregor, Deborah Kuhn; McGregor, Robert Kuhn

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1476693714 ISBN 13 : 9781476693712

Editeur : McFarland & Co Inc, 2024

Synopsis

This book outlines the history of rickets, a disease commonly associated with childhood, and studies its association with race and its long-reaching effects on childbirth. For centuries, the condition was poorly understood. For females, rickets could pose a double jeopardy: suffering in childhood and severe danger in adulthood when giving birth. The disease could result in a contracted pelvis that obstructs the birth canal. Medical researchers were faced with two distinct challenges: unravelling the etiology of rickets and ensuring the safety of women giving birth--both proved especially difficult.

Thought variously to be a disease of industrial cities and children of the poor, grounded in lack of exercise or sunlight, or the of product racial difference, the condition defied analysis until the discovery of vitamin D early in the 20th century. The dangers of rickets radically diminished. Medical intervention in childbirth continued, and childbirth increasingly shifted from the home to the hospital. Medical practitioners justified intervention by emphasizing the dangers of pelvic disproportion, continually enlarging the definition to gain full control of birth. Often conditioned by racial assumptions, surgical experimentation promoted common use of anesthesia and a radical increase in caesarean sections, and birth became a colder, more clinical experience.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

The late Deborah Kuhn McGregor, professor emeritus, taught in the history and women's studies programs at the University of Illinois for 24 years.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: McFarland & Co Inc
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1476693714
• ISBN 13: 9781476693712
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 306
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible