Giving Birth and Men’s Appropriation and Silencing of Women

Disregarding all boundaries and limits

Mary Cassatt, Motherhood, c. 1902

If we were not invisible to ourselves, we would see that since the beginning of time, we have been the exemplars of physical courage. Squatting in fields, isolated in bedrooms, in slums, in shacks, or in hospitals, women endure the ordeal of giving birth. This physical act of giving birth requires physical courage of the…