Pregnant bodies, pregnant minds

Feminist Theory 3 (1):27-44 (2002)
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Abstract

Philosophers and artists frequently make use of metaphors drawn from female bodily experiences of pregnancy and childbirth to express intellectual or artistic creativity. While philosophical and artistic originality are presented as a kind of spiritual pregnancy, women's bodily pregnancies are often presented as at best intellectually or spiritually insignificant, to be valued solely for their products — physical children. I contrast the view of pregnancy found in philosophers such as Plato and Nietzsche, and artists such as Chagall, with an understanding of pregnancy influenced by feminist body art, and focus on the significance of the extent and pace of change that women experience during pregnancy.

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Amy Mullin
University of Toronto, Mississauga

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References found in this work

Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism.Elizabeth Grosz - 1994 - St. Leonards, NSW: Indiana University Press.
Pregnant embodiment: Subjectivity and alienation.Iris Marion Young - 1984 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 9 (1):45-62.
Composing the soul: Reaches of Nietzsche's psychology.Graham Parkes - 1994 - Journal of Nietzsche Studies 12:99-108.

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