Women Matter

Women matter. Therefore, this book focusses on perceptions of reproduction in 17th-century England – a period that witnessed the shift from female-dominated to male-dominated areas of expertise concerning pregnancy and birth. While numerous studies have ex plored male medical discourse, this work seeks to combine the scientific writings of male authorship and personal writings of female authorship from the same period to expand the socio-historical understanding of reproduction. Through the lens of feminist literary criticism and IPA (interpretative phenomenological analysis), the texts are examined across three distinct spectra and situated within the broader framework of existing scholarship. Ultimately, this book argues that a truly nuanced understanding of the highly gendered, complex topics of pregnancy and birth – on both macro and micro levels – is only achievable through polyvocality.