Of woman born : motherhood as experience and institution

**Adrienne Rich's influential and landmark investigation concerns both the experience and the institution of motherhood.** The experience is her own―as a woman, a poet, a feminist, and a mother―but it is an experience determined by the institution, imposed on all women everywhere. She draws on personal materials, history, research, and literature to create a document of universal importance. «Sabemos mucho más acerca del aire que respiramos o de los mares que atravesamos, que acerca de la naturaleza y del significado de la maternidad». En medio del clima de activismo y publicación feminista de los años setenta del siglo XX, la cuestión de la maternidad no había sido abordada en toda su complejidad hasta la aparición de este libro. *Nacemos de mujer* fue publicado en 1976. En este trabajo, Adrienne Rich aunó vivencias, investigación histórica y antropológica y reflexión feminista con el propósito de radiografiar la «institución de maternidad»: la maternidad bajo el patriarcado como un conjunto de normas y controles que organizan las funciones de la familia y las labores de las «mujeres» respecto de su rol programado socialmente. Enfrentada a esta institución, la autora apostó por recuperar la palabra «maternidad» junto con la experiencia única, diversa, personal, compartida, en un análisis abierto que no deja de abordar los condicionamientos, las imposiciones y los roles. En nuestro tiempo, aún, tenemos mucho que pensar sobre cómo el capitalismo y el patriarcado usurpan las experiencias de los cuerpos gestantes; por eso, disponer de *Nacemos de mujer* es un excelente punto de partida. Motherhood as Experience and Institution. "In order for all women to have real choices all along the line," Adrienne Rich writes, "we need fully to understand the power and powerlessness embodied in motherhood in patriarchal culture." Rich's investigation, in this influential and landmark book, concerns both experience and institution. The experience is her own - as a woman, a poet, a feminist, and a mother - but it is an experience determined by the institution, imposed in its many variations on all women everywhere. She draws on personal materials, history, research, and literature to create a document of universal importance. One of our most distinguished poets, ADRIENNE RICH was born in Baltimore in 1929. Over the last forty years she has published more than seventeen volumes of poetry and five books of nonfiction prose, including Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations; On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Blood, Bread, and Poetry ; and What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. She has received numerous awards, including the Ruth Lilly Prize, the Lambda Book Award, the National Book Award, and the Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in California. 'in Order For All Women To Have Real Choices All Along The Line, ' Ardrienne Rich Writes, 'we Need Fully To Understand The Power And Powerlessness Embodied In Motherhood In Patriarchal Culture.' --publisher Description. Anger And Tenderness -- The Sacred Calling -- The Kingdom Of The Fathers -- The Primacy Of The Mother -- The Domestication Of Motherhood -- Hands Of Flesh, Hands Of Iron -- Alienated Labor -- Mother And Son, Woman And Man -- Motherhood And Daughterhood -- Violence : The Heart Of Maternal Darkness. Adrienne Rich. Originally Issued In 1986 As The 10th Anniversary Ed. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [287]-304) And Index.