BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH WOMEN'S HEALTH: MODERN ...

After learning about the inner workings of her body, the expectant mother could choose
(if she had the money and means) to give birth in a hospital, or at least be attended in her home
by a modern midwife or physician. If she chose this route, she was likely subjected to a series of
tests and measurements. Republican-era scientists and pseudo-scientists took measurements of
every possible bodily characteristic that represented the physical and mental ideal of the strong,
healthy, intelligent human. Male and female infants, children, and adults were not exempt from
this scrutiny of cranium size, breast size, amount of body hair, body odors, height, weight, length
of menstrual cycle, and so on. Babies in health clinics were weighed and measured,
schoolchildren were subjected to extensive physical exams, and adults who patronized modern
hospitals (or sometimes quack doctors) sometimes underwent embarrassing and uncomfortable
tests, all in the name of nation building and modern scientific progress. Again, we encounter the
idea of controlling the body, controlling the birth, by measuring, photographing, illustrating,
describing, drawing. 557
After the baby was born, the mother could choose to attend Well-Baby Clinics or
Mothers’ Club meetings. There were also mothers-in-law meetings, for they often had control
over their daughters-in-law and were seen as more resistant to change. Figure 6 shows such a
meeting with grandfather sitting in, perhaps to make sure nothing suspicious was underfoot in
this gathering of women. These clubs, which were usually run by hospitals or midwifery or
nursing schools, were intended to reduce the high infant mortality rate and to introduce septic
and modern methods of child-care. In addition to baby weight checks, cursory physical
examinations, and inoculations, the mother could learn how to care for her child. For example,
557 Farquhar, “For Your Reading Pleasure;” Sarah Franklin, "Postmodern Procreation: A Cultural Account of
Assisted Reproduction," in Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction, eds. Faye D.
Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995): 323-45, Martin, The Woman in the
Body.
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