In the last week, I had a bit of a pregnancy scare, and it got me googling, and then it got my thinking about women’s bodies. It is almost a given that a pregnant woman is some kind of baby receptical, and thus she must be super-careful. The pregnant body should not drink alchohol, smoke or even eat fish, for the love of God! The pregnant body should not take medications that she needs to function in order to protect the baby in her womb.
Liberal folk don’t blink twice at this moral code. I, however, never liked it. I did not know if I was pregnant, but I thought it was a possiblity, and I didn’t think I would get an abortion, but I still wanted to drink (a bit). What a shock! Putting myself, before the hypothetical baby! I did a drop of research into the matter, and discovered that at least the alchohol fear is a particially a myth, more later on who would want to start such a myth and why. (I’m not saying that women who get drunk all the time are not going to have a problem, and I’m certainly not saying I’m an expert on the matter, but I’m saying that there is at least aspects of science that are socially constructed, and the absolutly no alchohol while pregnant is one of them. In other cultures alchohol has a different social significance and thus women drink it in small amounts while pregnant and there is no proof that a large amount of folks in those cultures are messed up, biologically, even a bit. Afterall, there are many different pregnancy “taboos.” In France pregnant women are not supposed to eat raw veggies, but they may drink wine with dinner, as recommended by at least by one OBGYN. http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/pregnancy/drinking
As far as drinking is concerned check this out:
“The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recently conducted a large study including 400,000 American women, all of whom had consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Not a single case of fetal alcohol syndrome occurred and no adverse effects on children were found when consumption was under 8.5 drinks per week” http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/FetalAlcoholSyndrome.html
Not a single woman! So why is everyone so convinced, at least in the states? I wonder if it has something to do with both the idea that the pregnant woman is supposed to sublimate herself to the future child, and thus already take on the role of sacrificing maternity she will later embody, or maybe it has something to do with the cultural meaning of alchohol as something freeing and particually taboo, and not saintly enough for a woman carrying an innocent child?
Currently, the astablishment is going as far as arresting women who drink while pregnant. http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=1901
More on this topic soon, I believe this to be a part of much larger issues about pregnancy, motherhood and the bodies of women. Some deep rooted believes are hard to undo. Next post, will discuss how abortion is much like the rest of the objects on that list – especially when practiced in israel where you need a committee of three to get permission to have an abortion!
I don’t find anything objectionable with Feminists or with the precept of wanting equality between the sexes.
What I do object to is people who put forward ‘ideas’ that aren’t true.
The results to the survey you quote may be correct in the narrowest sense but; you have ignored the plethora of other problems that do happen with even low levels of alcohol drinking.
There’s a strong relationship between drinking alcohol and still births.
I’m not simple enough to assume that there might not be socio economic and dietary indicators involved in the statistics but the results show beyond a casual relationship between alcohol consumption and still births.
Its intellectually dishonest to claim that women who only drink moderately have little chance of their child having FAS; and thus this therefore means women can drink.
The first part of the statement is true the second part is irresponsible.
I think you’ll find a lot of the progressive thinking in the area of pre natal welfare in the last 2 decades has been due to progressive minded women more than to men trying to create baby factories.
Mr Bagel
FYI: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders:
http://fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/
Shalom Mr Bagel
Hello–You truly must have only done a tiny bit of research. There is lots and lots of evidence, now to the point that NO one argues it (kind of like global warming, but maybe we disagree there too?) Lots of children are being diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and people wonder why–they’ve managed to avoid the studies that show prenatal alcohol exposure, even in small doses, can produce AD/HD and other really crappy conditions. Latest research is that 4% of us are affected to some degree by our mom’s drinking.
But let’s say I’m just full of hot air, don’t have a clue, making it all up. As long as there’s a chance of some of your baby’s brain cells going astray or missing, do you really want to risk it?
please don’t hesitate to contact me–
Kathryn Page, Ph.D.
I was born with Fetal AlcoholSpectrum Disorder and have to live a life with this incurable yet 100% preventable disability. All i can say is one cannot argue FASD with me since i am proof it exists.