Egg, Foetus, Baby
Publisher: Atlas Contact
A new history of pregnancy
What happens in a pregnant belly? For centuries, people, mostly men, have been trying to answer that question. Scientific researchers pondered it, using a wide range of techniques and methods. Word usage about pregnancy also varies over time. For instance, when can or should you be called “pregnant”, and is it of an “egg”, “fetus” or “child”? What counts as “an abortion”?
Trudy Dehue is fascinated by the creation of knowledge. What is the pregnant person’s place in the many studies of the pregnant belly? Facts are always the end product of human actions and human decisions, she argues, often with major consequences for the likes and dislikes of others. So behind every fact is a story. In Egg, Fetus, Baby, Dehue unravels many stories behind the facts about pregnancy and pregnancy termination. In her research spanning five centuries, she charts sometimes gruesome, sometimes loving and sometimes alienating techniques and mindsets. At the same time, she offers new insights about the relationship between our knowledge and reality.
Praise:
‘The evocatively-told stories of individual women are gripping and unsettling.’ – de Volkskrant
‘Trudy Dehue has written an important book (…) Anyone who wants to make big statements about pregnancy, religiously or otherwise, should read this book first.’ – Nederlands Dagblad
