Question 1

What do we mean by the "medicalization of childbirth?" Is pregnancy equally "medicalized?" What about menstruation? How is "medicalizing" women's bodies another form of the cultural construction of gender?

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Question 2

"Biocultural markers" refer to the moments in a woman's life cycle where physiology and cultural constructs meet. How are these constructed as part of women's work? How are the biocultural markers in men's lives different?

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Question 3

Throughout time, women have striven to control pregnancy and reproduction. Choosing either fertility treatments or birth control, discuss women's motivations to conceive or not to conceive within your circle of friends. In other words, apply cross-cultural understanding to your own culture.

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Question 4

Discuss how social personhood is conferred upon fetuses? What are the possible implications of this? How does it relate to reproductive technologies such as surrogacy and fetal testing?

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Question 5

How is social birth different from biological birth? What are the cultural consequences in human societies for the status of fetuses? Of newborns? Of mothers? How is social birth related to the reasons people have for infanticide?

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Question 6

Compare and contrast rites of passage surrounding women as they progress through the life cycle in two cultures.

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Quiz 4: Blood and Milk: Biocultural Markers in the Lives of Women