“Secrets of the female sex”: jane sharp, the reproductive female body, and early modern midwifery manuals

Abstract

Early modern midwifery manuals in Britain were usually the work of men. These books were a significant source of information about the body to the wider reading public: many sold well, and their prefatory materials include injunctions to readers not to make improper use of them. What is particularly interesting about Jane Sharp's Midwives Book (1671) is that it both provides a compendium of current beliefs concerning reproduction, and indicates the author's ironic perception of the misogyny that underpinned accepted ideas about the female reproductive body. This article gives key examples of Sharp's interventions, and also refers to Thomas Bartholin, Bartholinus Anatomy (1688); Richard Bunworth, The Doctresse (1656); Hugh Chamberlen, The Accomplisht Midwife (1673); The Compleat Midwifes Practice (1656); Helkiah Crooke, Microcosmographia (1615); Nicholas Culpeper, A Directory for Midwives (1651); Jacques Guillemeau, Childbirth (1612); Jean Riolan, A Sure Guide (1657); Daniel Sennert, Practical Physick (1664); William Sermon, The Ladies Companion (1671); and Percival Willughby, Observations in Midwifery (c. 1675).

Biocultural perspectives on maternal mortality and obstetrical death from the past to the present

“…Before the 19th century, childbirth was thinly documented in texts, as most practicing midwives did not keep written records; knowledge was passed from woman to woman through apprenticeship. The few documented examples of midwives' experiences testify to the efficacy of the midwife and birthing at home (Urlich, 1991;Hobby, 2007;Allotey, 2010). One powerful example comes from the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who practiced on the frontiers of Maine from 1785 to 1812 (Urlich, 1991).…”

Birthing and Mining in John Donne’s “To His Mistress Going to Bed”

“…For example, Helkiah Crooke insists that women are "more wanton and petulant than males," which makes it near impossible for men to trust them (Crooke qtd. in Hobby, 2001). He warns that women, "mad for lust," might "invite men" to their beds (qtd.…”

“…He warns that women, "mad for lust," might "invite men" to their beds (qtd. in Hobby, 2001). Along the same lines, physician John Sadler cautions men that the imaginative power [of women] at the time of conception... is of such force that it stamps the character of the thing imagined upon the child: so that the children of an adultresse may be like unto her own husband as though begotten by another man; which is caused through the force of the imagination which the woman hath of her own husband in the act of coition.…”