Nursing Clio

Added on August 21, 2014 News

A Doula in Every Birthing Suite

By Paula A. Michaels

The question of the contraceptive mandate has garnered the lion’s share of attention regarding the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on women’s health services, most notably in the recent Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College decisions. As unquestionably important and pressing as these issues are, what has earned virtually no discussion is the opportunity that the ACA offers to improve the quality of care for women who choose to become pregnant. The potential for doulas—trained, experienced labor companions—to significantly improve health outcomes, raise patient satisfaction, and lower costs has not received the consideration it deserves.

Added on August 19, 2014 News

Whose Sperm Counts?

by Lara Freidenfelds

Recently, a Canadian fertility clinic made the news because it refused to allow a white client to be impregnated with sperm from a donor of color. The clinic director told the media, “I’m not sure that we should be creating rainbow families just because some single woman decides that that’s what she wants.”

When I first read this, I felt offended. Personally. My husband and I are different races, and our kids are bi-racial. I guess I had never proclaimed us a “rainbow family,” but ok. The clinic’s decision to avoid creating bi-racial children seemed like a judgment on my family. Like, my family’s not terrible or anything, but as a society we wouldn’t want to go making extra families like mine if we can stick to normal, uni-racial families. Am I a bad mother because I ignored race when I chose my spouse? Would it have been more responsible of me to have my kids with a white father?

Added on August 17, 2014 Sunday Morning Medicine

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-The 1889 Russian flu.
-Atomic tourism of the 1950s.
-Really cool century-old toys.
-Ticking clocks and baby pangs.
-When lobsters were for the poor.
-A history of dentistry – in pictures.

Added on August 14, 2014 Activism

The Right to Water in Detroit

by Austin McCoy

Detroit’s movement to oppose the city’s water and sewage department’s draconian bill collection program won a significant victory on July 29. The city’s Emergency Manager, Kevyn Orr, extended more control over the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) to Mayor Mike Duggan. While Orr retains the authority to restructure the DWSD, the announcement means that the DWSD will suspend its bill collection program temporarily. In March, the DWSD announced that it would shut off its delinquent customers’ water. To date, thousands of Detroiters have experienced shut offs already. According to the Detroit Free Press, the DWSD shut off water to 7,556 customers. If the DWSD’s goal was to pass the costs of its financial crisis to its customers, the program appeared to work, as up to 17,000 Detroiters have entered into payment plans. Unfortunately, the DWSD turned its fiscal emergency into a human rights issue, a public health and political crisis.

Added on August 12, 2014 Feminism

What Claire Fraser Didn’t Know About J. Marion Sims

by Carolyn Herbst Lewis

I have a not-so-secret weakness for historical fiction series. I think, in some roundabout way, this is what started me on the path to studying history. I read the Little House on the Prairie books as a child, John Jakes’ North and South series as a tween, and it’s been my genre-of-choice ever since. But there is one series in particular that really is my favorite. Maybe even an obsession. I have no idea how many times I’ve read and reread the now eight volumes in the series. I’ve even considered going on one of those themed-vacations, where you visit sites featured in the books. It’s that bad. My obsession, I mean. The books are simply that good.

When I say that I’m talking about the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, I imagine that most of you who have read the books will know what I am talking about. I say “most” because I have heard that there are people who have read the books and didn’t like them. Seriously, what’s not to like? There is adventure. There is drama. There is time travel. There is really great sex. Unlike so many other titles in this genre, the storyline and many of the characters are decidedly feminist. I could go on, but I think I’ve gushed enough to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. Here I actually want to focus on a particular facet of the series: Gabaldon’s careful attention to the history of medicine.

Added on August 10, 2014 Sunday Morning Medicine

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-The birth of the bra.
-The quandary of dark tourism.
-Science and tech ads from the past.
-A short history of childcare experts.
-The xenophobic history of marijuana.

Added on August 6, 2014 Feminism

Should We #FreeTheNipple? Maybe Male and Female Aren’t That Different After All

By Lara Freidenfelds

When I was little, I copied my dad and took off my shirt on hot summer days. He would be doing yard work, and I would be running around doing something or other that was sweaty and active. It felt great. A cool breeze works much better when it hits your skin directly. He encouraged me to ditch the shirt, and my sister and brother followed suit.

Added on August 5, 2014 News

Natural Childbirth: A Communist Plot?

By Paula A. Michaels

When All in the Family’s Gloria and Michael Stivic attended childbirth preparation classes in 1975, the Lamaze method seemed as American as apple pie. Each week Mike and Gloria brought into our living rooms the values of the counterculture and second-wave feminism that were redefining middle-class American society. Reflecting these trends in the realm of childbirth, the Lamaze method enjoyed tremendous popularity. Though natural living and feminist empowerment are not so much at the forefront of our collective cultural conversation, four decades later what childbirth scene in an American television show or movie would be complete without the hee-hee-hee-hoo of Lamaze breathing? More surprising than the durability of this iconic image in our cultural landscape is the fact that, the Lamaze method was denounced in the 1950s by the founder of the natural childbirth movement as nothing less than a communist plot.

Added on August 3, 2014 Sunday Morning Medicine

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-The Cold War Roomba.
-The million dollar map thief.
-The forgotten 1950s girl gang.
-Cunnilingus in the Middle Ages.
-Bad history in Washington D.C.

Added on July 31, 2014 Adventures in the Archives

Adventures in the Berlin Archives

By Rachel Epp Buller

As historians, we often work with primary sources – documents about a place or records of a person’s existence. Paging through issues of a journal from a hundred years ago can feel like traveling through time, and reading personal letters now held in an archive offers not only remarkable insights but also feelings of intimacy and privilege. But, what happens when you see something that you wish you hadn’t?

Nursing Clio

The Nursing Clio Reader

Reproduction History Syllabus

Debating Justice, Politics, and Culture in Black America, From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter

Run Like A Girl

Awards

A Doula in Every Birthing Suite

Whose Sperm Counts?

Sunday Morning Medicine

The Right to Water in Detroit

What Claire Fraser Didn’t Know About J. Marion Sims

Sunday Morning Medicine

Should We #FreeTheNipple? Maybe Male and Female Aren’t That Different After All

Natural Childbirth: A Communist Plot?

Sunday Morning Medicine

Adventures in the Berlin Archives

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