Bodies of knowledge : science, popular culture, and working-class women's experience of the life cycle in Yorkshire, c.1900-1940
The production and diffusion of knowledge are heavily classed and gendered practices. This thesis examines some of the processes and power relations at the heart of the creation and diffusion of knowledge on sexuality and female physiology in the period 1900-1940. More specifically, it explores the tensions inherent to these processes along the lines of gender and class, by focussing on scientific discourse, popular culture, and the experience of Yorkshire working-class women in relation to menstruation, sex, pregnancy, and menopause. Spanning four decades marked by significant social, political, scientific, and cultural changes, this thesis reflects on the complex and ambivalent relationships between working-class womenâs knowledge and experience, scientific or otherwise âexpertâ knowledge, and cultural understandings and representations of women and their bodies in this period. By deliberately focussing on womenâs voices and active contribution to these shifts and competing discourses, this thesis seeks to foreground their agency, and raises questions about what constitutes knowledge and expertise, the power relations which sustain those definitions, and how they are reproduced in the historical
Martin, Claire Pauline Lucie
Bodies of knowledge : science, popular culture, and working-class women's experience of the life cycle in Yorkshire, c.1900-1940. The production and diffusion of knowledge are heavily classed and gendered practices. This thesis examines some of the processes and power relations at the heart of the creation and diffusion of knowledge on sexuality and female physiology in the period 1900-1940. More specifically, it explores the tensions inherent to these processes along the lines of gender and class, by focussing on scientific discourse, popular culture, and the experience of Yorkshire working-class women in relation to menstruation, sex, pregnancy, and menopause. Spanning four decades marked by significant social, political, scientific, and cultural changes, this thesis reflects on the complex and ambivalent relationships between working-class womenâs knowledge and experience, scientific or otherwise âexpertâ knowledge, and cultural understandings and representations of women and their bodies in this period. By deliberately focussing on womenâs voices and active contribution to these shifts and competing discourses, this thesis seeks to foreground their agency, and raises questions about what constitutes knowledge and expertise, the power relations which sustain those definitions, and how they are reproduced in the historical
knowledge science popular_culture working_class woman_experience life_cycle yorkshire production diffusion knowledge heavily class gendered practice examines process power_relation heart creation diffusion knowledge sexuality female physiology period specifically explore tension inherent process along_line gender_class focus scientific_discourse popular_culture experience yorkshire working_class woman relation sex pregnancy mark significant social_political scientific cultural_change reflect complex ambivalent relationship working_class woman knowledge experience scientific otherwise expert knowledge cultural understanding representation_woman body period deliberately focus woman voice active shift compete discourse seek foreground agency raise_question constitutes knowledge expertise power_relation sustain definition reproduce historical