Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reproductive Rhetoric and the Blaming of the Body

  • Chapter
The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care

Abstract

I know no woman – virgin, mother, lesbian, married, celibate … for whom her body is not a fundamental problem: its clouded meaning, its fertility, its desire, its so-called frigidity, its bloody speech, its silences, its changes and mutilations, its rape and ripenings … the fear and hatred of our bodies has often crippled our brains. (Rich, 1986, P. 284)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aristotle (trans. A.L. Peck, 1965) History of Animals: Historia Animalium (London: Heinemann).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, S. (1991) ‘Female Circumcision: Fighting a Cruel Tradition, New Scientist, 2 Feb., pp. 42–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker-Benfield, G.J. (1976) The Horrors of the Half Known Life: Male Attitudes towards Women and Sexuality in Nineteenth-century America (New York: Harper & Row).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody, E.M. and Schoonover, C.B. (1986) ‘Patterns of Parent Care When Adult Daughters Work and When They Don’t’, The Gerontologist, 26, pp. 372–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. (1992) ‘Gender Issues in compulsory clinical detention’, in J.M. Ussher and P. Nicolson, Gender Issues in Clinical Psychology (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrows, G. (1828) Commentaries on Insanity (London: Underwood).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantor, M.H. (1983) ‘Strain among Caregivers: a Study of Experience in the United States’, The Gerontologist, 23, pp. 597–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, W. (1990) Women, Art and Society (Thames and Hudson: New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chawaf, C. (1986) ‘Linguistic Flesh’, in E. Marks and I. de Courtivron (eds), New French Feminisms. An Anthology (Sussex: Harvester Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, K. (1960) ‘The Effect of Menstruation on Schoolgirls’ Weekly Work’, British Medical Journal, (516a), pp. 326–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, K. (1964) The Premenstrual Syndrome (Springfield, Illinois: Charles Thomas).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, K. (1981) Depression after Childbirth (Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, K. (1984) Once a Month, 3rd edn (London: Fontana).

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, M. (1979) Gyn-ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (London: Women’s Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauvoir, S. de (1974) The Second Sex, 2nd edn (Harmondsworth, Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Duras, M. (1986) From an interview, in E. Marks and I. de Courtivron (eds), New French Feminisms. An Anthology (Sussex: Harvester Press) p. 174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dworkin, A. (1974) Woman Hating (New York: Dutton.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliot, S. (1984) ‘Pregnancy and After’, in S. Rachman (ed.), Contributions to Medical Psychology, 3: pp. 93–116, (Oxford: Pergamon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenreich, B., and English, D. (1979) For Her Own Good. 150 Years of the Experts Advice to Women (New York: Anchor Doubleday).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ey, H. (1982) ‘History and Analysis of the Concept’, in A. Roy (ed.), Hysteria pp. 3–26, (London: John Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fee, E. (1988) ‘Critique of Modern Science: the Relationship of Feminism to other Radical Epistemologies’, in R. Blier (ed.), Feminist Approaches to Science, pp. 42–56 (New York: Pergamon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, J. (1890) ‘Women in the Universities’, contemporary review

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1967) Madness and Civilization: a History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (London: Tavistock).

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazer, J.G. (1938) The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, G., Heniger, G., Lansky, M. and Talan, K. (1971) ‘Psychiatric Emergency Related to the Menstrual Cycle’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, pp. 705–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilman, C.P. (1892) The Yellow Wallpaper reprinted 1988 (London: Virago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, H. and Oakley, A. (1981) ‘Competing Ideologies of Reproduction: Medical and Maternal Perspectives on Pregnancy’, in H. Roberts (ed.) Women, Health and Reproduction (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul).

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J.G. (1984) The Social and Psychological Origins of the Climacteric Syndrome (Aldershot: Gower).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding, S.J. (1986) The Science Question in Feminism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Henriques, J., Hollway, W., Urwin, C., Venn, C. and Walkerdine, V. (1984) Changing the Subject. Psychology, Social Regulation and Subjectivity (London: Methuen).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hey, V. (1985) ‘Getting away with Murder: PMT and the Press’, in S. Laws, V. Hey and A. Eagan (eds), Seeing Red: the Politics of Premenstrual Tension (London: Hutchinson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Holte, A. (1989) ‘The Norwegian Menopause Project: a Six Year Prospective Follow-up Study of Psycho-social and Biological Predictors of Health, Symptoms and Quality of Life in Normal Women’, unpublished research paper, Dept of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, POB. 1111, Blindem, 0317, Oslo 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, J., Marcus, M. and Campbell, S. (1984) ‘Postpartum depression: a Critical Review’, Psychological Bulletin, 82(2), pp. 498–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, H. (1986) ‘Women’s Private Distress – a Public Health Issue’, Medicine in Society, 12, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, M., Battersby, R. and Whitehead, M. (1986) ‘Relationships between Psychological Symptoms, Somatic Complaints and Menopausal Status’, Maturitas, 8, pp. 217–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingleby, D. (1982) Critical Psychiatry (Harmondsworth: Penguin)

    Google Scholar 

  • Irigaray, L. (1988) Interview in E.H. Baruch, and L. Serrano, Women Analyse Women. In France, England and the United States (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf).

    Google Scholar 

  • Itzen, C. (1986) ‘Media Images of Women: the Social Construction of Agism and Sexism’, in S. Wilkinson (ed.), Feminist Social Psychology (Oxford University Press: London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffreys, S. (1990) Anticlimax: a feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution (London: Women’s Press.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, R. (1986) ‘Sex Differences in Minor Psychiatric Morbidity’, Psychological Medicine Mono. Suppl. 7 (Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordanova, L.J. (1989) Sexual Visions: Images of Gender in Science and Medicine between the Eighteenth and Twentieth Century (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf).

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, E.F. (1985) Reflections on Gender and Science (London: Yale University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • King, H. (1990) ‘Hippocratic Hysteria’, paper presented at the Wellcome Symposium on the History of Medicine: History of Hysteria, 6 April, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsbourne, M. (1971) ‘Cognitive Deficit: Experimental Analysis’, in J. McGaugh (ed.) Psychobiology (New York: Academic Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, S. (1983) Women’s Experience of Sex (London: Dorling Kindersley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Koeske, R. (1983) ‘Sociocultural Factors in the Premenstrual Syndrome: Review, Critiques and Future Directions’, paper presented at the Premenstrual Syndrome Workshop, 14–15 April NIMH, Rockville, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacan, J. (1977) ùcrits: A Selection (London: Tavistock).

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws, S. (1990) Issues of Blood (London: Macmillan).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maddock, A. (1854) ‘The Education of Women’, from On Mental and Nervous Disorders (London: Simpkin, Marshall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Maudsley, H. (1873) Body and Mind (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Micale, M. (1990) ‘Hysteria and its Histography: the Future Perspective’, History of Psychiatry, 1 (1), pp. 33–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millar, J. (1861) Hints on Insanity (London: Henry Renshaw).

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, F. (1989) A Misogynist’s Source Book (London: Jonathan Cape).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, Z. (1970) ‘It Hurts to be Alive and Obsolete: the Aging Woman’, in R. Morgan (ed.), Sisterhood is Powerful: an Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement (New York: Vintage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Neurgarten, B. (1979) ‘Time, Age and the Life Cycle’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, pp. 1887–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1986) ‘Developing a Feminist Approach to Depression Following Childbirth’, in S. Wilkinson (ed.). Feminist Social Psychology (Milton Keynes: Open University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1988) The Social Psychology of Post-natal Depression. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1989) ‘Counselling Women with Post-natal Depression’, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 2, 2, 123–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1990) ‘Understanding Post-natal Depression: a Mother-centred Approach’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 15, pp. 689–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1992a) Chapter in J.M. Ussher and P. Nicolson (eds), Gender Issues in Clinical Psychology (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, P. (1992b) ‘Menstrual Cycle Research and the Construction of Female Psychology’, in J.R. Richardson (ed.) Cognition and the Menstrual Cycle ch. 6 (London: Lawrence Erlbaum).

    Google Scholar 

  • Parlee, M. (1973) ‘The Premenstrual Syndrome’, Psychological Bulletin, 80, pp. 454–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parlee, M. (1989) ‘The Science and Politics of PMS Research’, paper presented at the Association for Women in Psychology Annual Research Conference, 10–12 March, Newport, Rhode Island.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, R. (1987) Mind-Forg’d Manacles (London: Athlone Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, R. (1990) ‘Men’s Hysterica in Corpore Hysterico?’, paper presented at the Wellcome Symposium on the History of Medicine, History of Hysteria, 6 April, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, A. (1986) Of Woman Born (London: Virago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, J. (1992) ‘Paramenstrual Symptomatology’, in J.R. Richardson (ed.), Cognition and the Menstrual Cycle, ch. 1 (London: Lawrence Erlbaum).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sayers, J. (1982) Biological Politics: Feminist and Anti-feminist Perspectives (London: Tavistock).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scot, R. (1584) The Discovery of Witchcraft reprinted 1964 (Arundel: Centaur Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scull, A.T. (1979) Museums of Madness: The Social Organization of Insanity in Nineteenth-century England (Harmondsworth: Allen Lane).

    Google Scholar 

  • Showalter, E. (1987) The Female Malady (London: Virago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Showalter, E. (1990) ‘Double Flowers: Hysteria, Feminism and Gender’, paper presented at the Wellcome Symposium on the History of Medicine, History of Hysteria, 6 April, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shreeve, C. (1984) The Premenstrual Syndrome (Wellingborough: Thorsons).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shyrock, R. (1966) Medicine in America: Historical Essays (Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, R. (1963) ‘The Importance of Negative Results in Psychological Research’, The Canadian Psychologist, 5, pp. 225–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Rosenberg, C. (1972) ‘The Hysterical Woman: Sex Roles in Nineteenth-century America’, Social Research, 39, pp. 652–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, B. (1983) ‘How does Menstruation Affect Cognitive Competence and Physiological Response?’, Women and Health, 8(2–3) pp. 53–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, B. (1992) ‘Cognitive Performance and the Menstrual Cycle’, in J.R. Richardson (ed.) Cognition and the Menstrual Cycle ch. 2 (Lawrence Erlbaum: London.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sprenger, J. and Kraemer, A. (1492) The Malleus Maleficarum. Institoris (Hogarth) 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, M. (1979) ‘Psychobiology of Mental Disorders Associated with Childbirth’, Acta Scandinavica, 60, pp. 444–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sydenham, T. (1848) The works of Thomas Sydenum, translated with a ‘Life of the Author’, R.G. Latham, p. 85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuch, R. (1975) ‘The Relationship between a Mother’s Menstrual Status and her Response to Illness in her Child’, Psychosomatic Medicine, 37, pp. 388–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1987) ‘Variations in Performance Mood and State during the Menstrual Cycle’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1989) The Psychology of the Female Body (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1991a) Women’s Madness – Misogyny or Mental Illness? (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1992a) ‘Science Sexing Psychology’, in J. Ussher and P. Nicolson (eds), Gender Issues in Clinical Psychology, (London: Routledge).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1992b) ‘The Demise of Dissent and the Rise of Cognition in Menstrual Cycle Research’, in J. Richardson (ed.), Cognition and the Menstrual Cycle (London: Springer Verlag).

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Akker, O. (1985). ‘A Psychophysiological Investigation of Menstrual Cycle Distress, unpublished PhD thesis, University of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veith, (1964) Hysteria: The History of a Disease 7, (University of Chicago Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, K. (1985) Understanding Brain Damage (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weideger, P. (1977) Female Cycles (London: Women’s Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College, London, UK

    Jane Ussher (Lecturer in Psychology)

Authors
  1. Jane Ussher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sheffield, UK

    Paula Nicolson (Lecturer in Medical Psychology) (Lecturer in Medical Psychology)

  2. University College, London, UK

    Jane Ussher (Lecturer in Psychology) (Lecturer in Psychology)

Copyright information

© 1992 Jane Ussher

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ussher, J. (1992). Reproductive Rhetoric and the Blaming of the Body. In: Nicolson, P., Ussher, J., Campling, J. (eds) The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12028-4_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation