Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada
Following the North American publication of British obstetrician Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear in 1944, natural childbirth theories reached new audiences, including Canadians who were interested in what they perceived as a ‘new’ way to give birth. In newspaper columns and popular title...
Sábháilte in:
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| Formáid: | Online |
| Teanga: | Béarla |
| Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: |
Manchester University Press
2025
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| Ábhair: | |
| Rochtain ar líne: | ONIX_20250703T165813_9781526170675_6 |
| Clibeanna: |
Níl clibeanna ann, Bí ar an gcéad duine le clib a chur leis an taifead seo!
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| _version_ | 1869523652101275648 |
|---|---|
| author | Wood, Whitney |
| author_browse | Wood, Whitney |
| author_facet | Wood, Whitney |
| author_sort | Wood, Whitney |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Following the North American publication of British obstetrician Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear in 1944, natural childbirth theories reached new audiences, including Canadians who were interested in what they perceived as a ‘new’ way to give birth. In newspaper columns and popular titles including Chatelaine, Canadian women and experts alike discussed their perceptions of and engagement with natural childbirth ideas. In so doing, Canadian mothers and mothers-to-be articulated a range of attitudes surrounding women’s bodies and postwar gender roles. Canadian women, like their global counterparts, conceptualised their pregnancies and childbirths in various ways, demonstrating myriad understandings of what exactly constituted a ‘natural’ birth. Many women, however, regularly drew on international comparisons to position individual experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood as ‘modern’ or ‘antiquated’. While some women continued to pathologise both pregnancy and childbirth and emphasise the need for continuous medical surveillance, others sought to position these life events as ordinary, everyday, and routine, requiring little in the way of medical intervention. Personal histories, geographic location, class, and race shaped individual perceptions of pregnancy and childbirth, fundamentally mediating Canadian women’s broader experiences of health and wellbeing. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-162505 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Manchester University Press |
| publisherStr | Manchester University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1625052025-07-05T05:04:20Z Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada Wood, Whitney everyday health health humanities intersectionality medical humanities social history of medicine wellbeing thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 Following the North American publication of British obstetrician Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear in 1944, natural childbirth theories reached new audiences, including Canadians who were interested in what they perceived as a ‘new’ way to give birth. In newspaper columns and popular titles including Chatelaine, Canadian women and experts alike discussed their perceptions of and engagement with natural childbirth ideas. In so doing, Canadian mothers and mothers-to-be articulated a range of attitudes surrounding women’s bodies and postwar gender roles. Canadian women, like their global counterparts, conceptualised their pregnancies and childbirths in various ways, demonstrating myriad understandings of what exactly constituted a ‘natural’ birth. Many women, however, regularly drew on international comparisons to position individual experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood as ‘modern’ or ‘antiquated’. While some women continued to pathologise both pregnancy and childbirth and emphasise the need for continuous medical surveillance, others sought to position these life events as ordinary, everyday, and routine, requiring little in the way of medical intervention. Personal histories, geographic location, class, and race shaped individual perceptions of pregnancy and childbirth, fundamentally mediating Canadian women’s broader experiences of health and wellbeing. 2025-07-04T05:03:27Z 2025-07-04T05:03:27Z 2025-07-03T15:02:54Z 2024 chapter ONIX_20250703T165813_9781526170675_6 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/103939 9781526170675 9781526170651 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/162505 eng Social Histories of Medicine open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/103939/1/9781526170675-ch9.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/103939/1/9781526170675-ch9.pdf Manchester University Press Manchester University Press 10.7765/9781526170675 10.7765/9781526170675 bcb4ab08-c525-4e6c-88e5-a0cf0a175533 ‘Everyday health’, embodiment, and selfhood since 1950 Wellcome Trust d859fbd3-d884-4090-a0ec-baf821c9abfd 9781526170675 9781526170651 Wellcome Manchester University Press 21 Manchester [...] open access |
| spellingShingle | everyday health health humanities intersectionality medical humanities social history of medicine wellbeing thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 Wood, Whitney Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title | Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title_full | Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title_fullStr | Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title_short | Chapter 'Thirty years behind England'? Framing 'natural' childbirth in postwar Canada |
| title_sort | chapter thirty years behind england framing natural childbirth in postwar canada |
| topic | everyday health health humanities intersectionality medical humanities social history of medicine wellbeing thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 |
| topic_facet | everyday health health humanities intersectionality medical humanities social history of medicine wellbeing thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBX History of medicine thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPQ Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999 |
| url | ONIX_20250703T165813_9781526170675_6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT woodwhitney chapterthirtyyearsbehindenglandframingnaturalchildbirthinpostwarcanada |