Response to “The Woman in the Body”
Reading Response (Martin, Emily)
Note: In order to write this reading response you will need to have read the assigned chapters from Emily Martin’s book The Woman in the Body.
you can search for summary of the readings but DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OUTSIDE SOURCES AND YOU HAVE TO WRITE IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Just cite the book I have provided you.
Topic: According to Emily Martin, how do American ideas about reproduction (particularly in its connection with women’s bodies) symbolically reflect broader American cultural values or ideologies–for example, those associated with our system of economic production, our ideas about science and medicine, or American understandings of the relationship between the body and the person? What values are reflected, and how are they reflected through ideas about reproduction? (You may focus on just one or two of the values that you find most interesting or important.) Please give at least 1-2 examples from any of her chapters to suppport your argument.
Length: 1-2 pages, double spaced. Please cite page numbers where relevant.
Answer previewAccording to Emily Martin, gender stratification represents cultural values in American culture associated with economic production. Women are viewed as instruments of childbearing and attendants to household affairs. There exist a significant difference between poor and middle-class women where the latter has higher strata in society concerning economic contributions and well-being. Men in the American culture are superior while women are inferior irrespective of the position they bear in the workplace. A woman has to give birth to the number of children the husband decides and attend to the children as well. In chapter three, women undergo menstruation and menopause and are perceived as failed production since there lack fertilizations and reaches…(400 words)