Breasts, Wombs, and the Body Politic

Abstract

Although studies indicate no significant medical benefits outine ultrasounds during pregnancy, ultrasound screening has become a standard component of obstetrical care and is regularly covered by health insurance plans. Why is that? And what has it got to do with natural childbirth and the government's Babies were born to be breastfed advertising campaign? In Mass Hysteria: Medicine, Culture, and Mothers' Bodies, Rebecca Kukla argues that about two and a half centuries ago, Enlightenment ideology, modern science, and the rise of the nation-state produced a profound change that persists to this day in the cultural meanings assigned to maternal bodies: they were transformed from private, almost furtive matters into vivid centers of public management, surveillance, celebration, approbation, and regulation (p. 53). As a result, fetal images are everywhere, childbirth is supposed to be forceps-free, and breastfeeding is touted as the only safe way to nourish one's infant.