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"Honoring Our Bodies"
Dr. Christiane Northup
Background on the context in which this essay was written.
Date Reading Was Discussed: March 1, 1993
Present: Colleen M., Catherine C,, Coco G., Kalisa, Cynthia L, and Cathleen M.
The author of this month's essay, Dr. Christiane Northrup, is a rare soul in the medical world. A holistic gynecologist, she believes that PMS, hysterectomies, breast cancer, fibroids, etc. are "physical metaphors for the wounding of women." Several women at this month's discussion added a historical dimension by connecting women's wounds to 5,000 years of unmitigated misogyny.
One woman said the essay made her cry, explaining that it invoked in her own body the cumulative suffering of her grandmothers, her great grandmothers, and her great-great grandmothers. Some women felt that our bodies map an inner, subconscious pain that parallels the rape and battering of Mother Earth. As Northrup writes, "since the earth is often considered feminine in gender," women in particular are "Culturally and biologically very sensitive" to the violence against nature.
Source: HighBeam Research, Holistic healing.(Brief Article)