I’m a philologist and I’ve been one since the age of four when my father taught me how to analyze a sentence in terms of the parts of speech it contains and the function each word performs in them. Words have meaning, and if we are careless with that meaning, we run the risk that somebody who who is less lazy and more attentive to the power of words might use them against us.
Yesterday at the birth class, we were told by both lecturers and read in the hand-out they gave us that “a woman’s body was made to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth.” The question I had when I heard this was which worldview this idea represented.
It is obviously not a scientific worldview (which one would really prefer to encounter at a hospital) because modern science does not accept the idea of a purposeful Maker who creates people and determines what their goals should be.
This is not part of the Judeo-Christian worldview either because, according to the Old Testament, painful birth is punishment God imposed on humanity for the original sin. When Eve was first created, there was no talk of pregnancies or delivery of babies.
I have no idea how other religions approach this issue but I highly doubt that they could have had a huge impact on our tiny town in the midst of the Bible Belt.
The only explanation I’m left with for this pearl of dubious wisdom is that it originated in what I call the “Dr. Phil entertains intellectually limited housewives” philosophy. The philosophy’s central tenet is that you can say any number of stupid things and get idiots to nod happily in agreement if you preface your unintelligent idea with “we are hard-wired to. . .” The passive voice construction and the quasi-scientific terminology sound extremely convincing to those who are both pretentious and silly.
Dr. Phil might not be a real doctor but he can make hospital workers parrot his ideas, and that’s quite an achievement.
P.S. If you want to inform me that this verbal atrocity is “just a way of speaking,” please concentrate and re-read the first paragraph of this post.
Clarissa's Blog 
“A woman’s body was made to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth” This is pretty close to the scientific view. From an ethologist point of view, we’re just byproducts of our genes, our existence due only to carry out their replication as widely and successfully as possible. The wording though would probably be along the lines, women’s bodies have evolved to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth in the more efficient manner possible given the natural environmental constraints.
The person who stated this, however, probably made it so more out of empirical observation and Christian influence, even if inaccurate as you argue, than out of interest to be scientifically accurate.
What would you rather hear her say?
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““A woman’s body was made to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth” This is pretty close to the scientific view.”
– So Intelligent Design is scientific? I don’t know, the scientists I’ve met all have conniptions whenever they hear the words “Intellident Design.”
“The wording though would probably be along the lines, women’s bodies have evolved to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth in the more efficient manner possible given the natural environmental constraints.”
– The difference between “have evolved” and “were made in order to” is enormous.
“What would you rather hear her say?”
– I’d rather not hear any of this silly, meaningless stuff at all. How are these strange musings supposed to help anybody? The next stage of this would be to visit a geriatric ward and inform the elderly that human bodies “were made to” die before the age of 25.
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“How are these strange musings supposed to help anybody?”
She probably just wants to reassure you that everything’s under control, that your body has the ability to deal with minor problems out of its own. Perhaps other mothers have asked many questions as to what preparations they need, when the answer is none, your body will carry most by itself.
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If there is one thing this process has taught me is that even a very healthy person needs intense and constant medical help to deal with pregnancy and childbirth. My body is definitely not managing this on its own and I don’t even have the really major issues other women in this class revealed.
We only have the modern science to thank for our long lifespans and our liberation from many of the limitations our bodies impose on us.
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I accompanied a friend of mine, single mother, through her pregnancy. She had few issues at the end but nothing ever that required medical intervention. She was anxious and worried most of the time and we ran to the hospital a few times but everything was fine. The only thing she took were vitamins and antiacid pills. The birth was straightforward, we even joked at the drama that’s shown on TV shows.
I realize everyone’s different though, and that you have a different point of view.
In any case I wish you and Eric the very best!
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” She had few issues at the end but nothing ever that required medical intervention. She was anxious and worried most of the time and we ran to the hospital a few times but everything was fine. ”
– Some people find the psychological part hard to manage and some the physical.
“In any case I wish you and Eric the very best!”
– Thank you! The best thing about a pregnancy is that it will eventually end. 🙂
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Some kind of teleological fallacy.This clock is made to measure time. The implications are that it cannot help but do so. Western culture is full of these weird moral meanings hidden behind assertions, whose only purpose is to convey not facts but moral ideas.
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The insidious nature of such statements is that people just accept them and repeat them without unpacking the meanings they conceal.
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Yeah, I already know. Teleology is used by intellectual scoundrels, normally.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
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Survival of fittest mechanisms does not mean survival of best. Meaning: just because it turned out that this is how humans give birth, does not mean it is ideal.
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Good point. Very very good.
Nature messes up quite often, I find.
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Don’t get me started. Mammals have their retinas on backwards, their food pathways sharing space with their breathing pathways and the vagus nerve taking a ridiculous detour. Proof that Nature is a Romanian handyman, really – “eh, leave it like this; it works, after all” being their shared unofficial motto.
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