ABSTRACT
In broader perspective, these subtle changes which the expectant mother experiences in her relationships with other people are probably a reflection of deeper and more pervasive cultural pressures through which society seeks to prepare a woman for the role of motherhood. In our society, as in many others, the birth of a first child is more than a biological event. It carries overtones of a ceremonial rite whereby a young woman is initiated into the established matriarchy. Like the acquisition of a wedding ring, the bearing of the first (legitimate) child confers enhanced status. And, as with most rites of passage, whether they concern a tribal initiation into manhood or an English boy's admission to his public school peer group, the prestige of the initiated is maintained by the tradition of ordeal by pain and suffering: a slowly changing tradition, which we will discuss in more detail presently.
