Women and Pregnancy in Bom Jesus
Women and Pregnancy in Bom Jesus
The women, men, and children that live in Bom Jesus, for the most part, from the moment they are born have a very hard life. The impoverished women, on average during their reproductive days, have about 12 pregnancies. Of those pregnancies only about three of the children survive. (pg. 311) When asked, how many children would be the ideal family size, the women would answer between two to three children. (pg. 331-332) So the question that must be asked is why these women have so many pregnancies when they only really want about three children? The answer to that question has many reasons and most of them are deeply rooted in the culture that the women live in. First there is the issue of birth control and the many different types they could use. Some of the women that Nancy Shcheper-Hughes interviewed said that they have used the pill for a brief time. Although it was effective they considered it dangerous. They said that it would cause cancer, swelling, headaches, nausea, and extreme nervousness. (pg. 333) Then there are diaphragms which are not available in local drugstores or not known to the women and with the men they are known to wear condoms but only with the prostitutes in the zona. (pg. 333) The older women of Alto have many different herbal teas, baths, washes, and infusions that would effect a women’s period so that it would be late and were stated to having “abortive” properties. (pg. 333-334) The women know that these herbs can be dangerous in early stages of pregnancy but they are constantly sick and taking so many different drugs and herbs that if an abortion were to happen then it was an “unintended consequence”. (pg. 335) Catholicism runs deep in Brazil which is one of the reason’s the women do not receive a hysterectomy or sterilization. (pg. 231) The clinics and doctors lecture the women about how it is the woman’s “duty” to give birth to children as in the case of a single woman of thirty-eight who
The women, men, and children that live in Bom Jesus, for the most part, from the moment they are born have a very hard life. The impoverished women, on average during their reproductive days, have about 12 pregnancies. Of those pregnancies only about three of the children survive. (pg. 311) When asked, how many children would be the ideal family size, the women would answer between two to three children. (pg. 331-332) So the question that must be asked is why these women have so many pregnancies when they only really want about three children? The answer to that question has many reasons and most of them are deeply rooted in the culture that the women live in. First there is the issue of birth control and the many different types they could use. Some of the women that Nancy Shcheper-Hughes interviewed said that they have used the pill for a brief time. Although it was effective they considered it dangerous. They said that it would cause cancer, swelling, headaches, nausea, and extreme nervousness. (pg. 333) Then there are diaphragms which are not available in local drugstores or not known to the women and with the men they are known to wear condoms but only with the prostitutes in the zona. (pg. 333) The older women of Alto have many different herbal teas, baths, washes, and infusions that would effect a women’s period so that it would be late and were stated to having “abortive” properties. (pg. 333-334) The women know that these herbs can be dangerous in early stages of pregnancy but they are constantly sick and taking so many different drugs and herbs that if an abortion were to happen then it was an “unintended consequence”. (pg. 335) Catholicism runs deep in Brazil which is one of the reason’s the women do not receive a hysterectomy or sterilization. (pg. 231) The clinics and doctors lecture the women about how it is the woman’s “duty” to give birth to children as in the case of a single woman of thirty-eight who
Cited: McKee, Nancy. Washington State University. Online Lecture #12.