A man giving birth: The history of maternity culture in Russia of the New Age, Mitsyuk N.A., Pushkareva N.L., Belova A.V.

At first glance, the act of birth seems to be one of the most basic and immutable phenomena of our life, but in fact its social and cultural existence is in the process of constant transformation. From the XNUMXth to the beginning of the XNUMXth century, obstetrics and maternity culture in Russia have come a long way. How exactly did female reproductive behavior and the social conditions surrounding it change? What historical factors influenced the development of obstetrics? How did childbirth move from the home to the clinical space, and when did family planning practices begin? The authors of the monograph try to answer these questions with the help of a wide range of sources. Turning to case histories, textbooks and atlases on obstetrics, reports from medical institutions, minutes of meetings of charitable societies, divorce cases, diaries and letters, they reconstruct the development of maternity culture in Russia from Peter I to the October Revolution. Among these sources, written testimonies, in which women themselves describe and comprehend the birth experience, occupy a central place. Natalya Mitsyuk, Natalya Pushkareva and Anna Belova are historians and anthropologists, members of the Russian Association of Women's History Researchers (RAIZhI).