Description
A bold reappraisal of science and society, The Woman in the Body explores the different ways that women's reproduction is seen in American culture. Contrasting the views of medical science with those of ordinary women from diverse social and economic backgrounds, anthropologist Emily Martin presents unique fieldwork on American culture and uncovers the metaphors of economy and alienation that pervade women's imaging of themselves and their bodies. A new preface examines some of the latest medical ideas about women's reproductive cycles.
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Martin's analysis of the images that surround the female body in American culture contrasts the views of medical science with those of women from many social and economic backgrounds. In particular she stresses how metaphors of mass production, with their emphasis on machine-like regularity and efficiencies of scale, inform medical descriptions of women's bodies, frequently to the detriment of women's image of themselves and their life's purpose. Martin teaches anthropology at Princeton U. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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