1. Bio-cultural Markers in Women’s Lives

2. Women’s reproductive processes include 1. The biological processes that allow them to conceive, bear, nurse and care for infants 2. The cultural meanings attached to the biological processes that allow women to conceive, bear, nurse and care for infants.

3. Women’s reproduction implicitly includes 1. Conceiving, giving birth to babies, and nursing and caring for them. 2.Reproducing, redefining and representing their culture in the ways they raise their children. This is called “social production.”

4. All of the biological processes and markers in women’s lives are always viewed through a culturally constructed worldview. Therefore we are calling them “bio-cultural markers.”

5. Biocultural Markers in Women’s Lives Menarche Maidenhood Lactation Fertility Management Amenorrhoea Menopause Middle Age (Crones, Matrons)

6. Menarche The purity and pollution of menstrual blood Initiation Rites Van Gennep’s Stages of Transition Rites Separation Liminality Reintegration

7. Maidenhood Adjustment to Adult Roles Cultural Rules Surrounding Sexuality Micro Case Analysis of Premarital Sex in Pre industrialized Societies

8. Fertility Control Contraception Coitus Interruptus Breastfeeding Post Partum Sex Taboo Abortion – massage, physical, herbs (abortifacient, emmenagogue) Social birth and Infanticide Infertility

9. Who Owns a Woman’s Fertility? Who makes decisions about contraception? Who owns the birth? –Traditional vs. medicalized births –Positions during birth –Midwives and doulas vs. physicians –Pain management and cultural expectations (Susan Scrimshaw’s research) –Who owns the placenta? Who controls the children?