For the Father of a Newborn: Soviet Obstetrics and the Mobilization of Men as Medical Allies. Issue 1 (1st August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Randall, Amy E.
• Is Part Of: Aspasia. Volume 15:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 146
• Page End: 164
• Publication Date: 2021-08-01
• Subjects: childbirth -- gender -- masculinity/masculinities -- obstetrics -- reproduction -- Soviet; Women -- Europe, Eastern -- Periodicals; Women -- Europe, Central -- Periodicals; Women -- Balkan Peninsula -- Periodicals; Women -- Europe, Central -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Women -- Europe, Eastern -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Women -- Balkan Peninsula -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Women; Balkan Peninsula; Central Europe; Eastern Europe; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 305.40943
• DOI: 10.3167/asp.2021.150110
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1933-2882

Abstract

Abstract: This article introduces the translated pamphlet For the Father of a Newborn by contextualizing it in Soviet medical efforts to deploy men as allies in safeguarding reproduction and bolstering procreation in the 1960s and 1970s. It examines the pamphlet as an illustration of how doctors and other health personnel tried to educate men to protect their wives' pregnancy and the health of their wives and newborns in the postpartum period, and it considers the implications of these initiatives for women's bodies, gender norms, sexual practices, models of masculinity, and the socialist goal of promoting women's equality.