Perceptions of Pregnancy from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century

Jennifer Evans is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She researches the social and cultural history of early modern bodies, medicine and gender, and her work to date has focused on infertility and reproductive health. Her previous publications include Aphrodisiacs, Fertility and Medicine in Early Modern England, 1550-1780 (2014). She is the founding editor of http://earlymodernmedicine.com, and co-director of the Perceptions of Pregnancy Researcher’s Network.Ciara Meehan is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Her research interests include the transformation of Irish society, abortion politics, and the everyday lives of women in twentieth century Ireland. Her publications include The Cosgrave Party: a History of Cumann na nGaedheal, 1923-33 (2010) and A Just Society for Ireland? 1964-87 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). She is co-director of the Perceptions of Pregnancy Researchers’ Network.

“This book provides some enjoyable reading on a variety of topics related to the main theme of the book. It provides a huge smorgasbord of interesting anecdotes on different topics and at different times in history … .” (William J. LeMaire, Marriage, Families & Spirituality, Vol. 25 (1), 2019)

• Introduction; Jennifer Evans and Ciara Meehan.- PART I: NARRATIVES OF PREGNANCY, BIRTH, AND PARENTHOOD.- 1. ‘Breeding’ a ‘little stranger’: Managing Uncertainty in Pregnancy in Late Georgian England; Joanne Begiato.- 2. ‘Bound to be a troublesome time’: Canadian Perceptions of Pregnancy, Parturition and Pain, 1867-1920; Whitney Wood.- 3. Families, Vulnerability and Sexual Violence during the Irish Revolution; Justin Dolar Stover.- 4. Audible Birth, Listening Women: Storytelling the Labouring Body on Mumsnet.com; Anija Dokter.- PART II: LITERARY PREGNANCIES.- 5. Feminine Value and Reproduction in Rowley's The Birth of Merlin; Sanner Garofalo.- 6. 'Pregnant Women Gaze at the Precious Thing their Souls are Set on': Perceptions of the Pregnant Body in Early Modern Literature; Sara Read.- 7. Babies without Husbands: Unmarried Motherhood in 1960s British Fiction; Fran Bigman.- PART III: CONSUMERS, PARTICIPANTS AND PATIENTS.- 8. The Birth of the Pregnant Patient-Consumer? Payment, Paternalism and Maternity Hospitals in Early Twentieth-Century England; George Campbell Gosling.- 9. 'Closer Together': Durex Condoms and Contraceptive Consumerism in 1970s Britain; Ben Mechen.