Speakers: Randi Hutter Epstein, MD
Childbirth has been a matter of magic, mystery, and misunderstanding ever since Eve got the ball rolling. Whether the result of medical ignorance, social stigma, or some faddish new technique, for most of human history this critical moment of every life was shrouded in secrecy—the domain of women and (mostly) male doctors, very often to the detriment of the health of the mother, the child, or both.
In GET ME OUT: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank, medical journalist Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D., serves as a capable midwife to a captivating and comprehensive history of how we get babies out of their mothers, and how this effort has evolved—for better and for worse—throughout human history.
As Epstein travels through the medical maze that leads from the invention of forceps (a closely kept family secret for generations) and rudimentary anesthetics to modern-day fertility methods as arcane, risky, and complex as artificial insemination, freezing eggs, or renting wombs, she reveals how ideas about pregnancy and birth shed light on society.
"The way we give birth is a story about our deepest desires and our fundamental concerns about life, death, and sex," writes Epstein. "We are creating life and we will do anything we think is in our power to control and to perfect the outcome."
GET ME OUT is a fascinating history of the fears and disappointments, the tragedies and peaks of the maternal experience. It's about childbirth and the intensive scientific and psychological effort to perfect all aspects of this extremely common, yet still miraculous, human event.
Each new development yields fresh ethical and moral dilemmas, many of which lead directly to new solutions or strategies, which in turn produce new dilemmas. This, clearly, is also part of the cycle of life. As Epstein writes, it is virtually impossible to harness all the variables involved in a birth, and yet modern medicine is increasingly able to micromanage conception, gestation, and delivery—the irony being that "all of this obsessive control leads us to one of the most uncontrollable situations ever: parenting."
Written in witty, accessible prose, GET ME OUT is a celebration of life and human ingenuity as well as a meticulous medical history of how we got to where we are in reproductive knowledge and technology, and a provocative hint at the future and its many challenges.
"Roll over, Dr. Lamaze, and make room for Epstein’s eyebrow-raising history."
—Kirkus Reviews
- Schedule of Events
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Registration: 5:30 — 6:00 PM
Program: 6:00 — 7:00 PM
- Registration Options
- This event is free but pre-registration is required
Copies will be available for purchase.
Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D., is a medical journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Daily Telegraph, and several national magazine. She lives in New York City with her husband and four children.
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