There is so much silence, stigma, and shame attached to miscarriage.
But miscarriages happen and have always happened. A brief #herstory thread.
But miscarriages happen and have always happened. A brief #herstory thread.
Miscarriage is painful and frightening, and can be lonely. People talk and post about their successful pregnancies. No one shares their miscarriages.
Hearing other women open up about their losses, and reading about miscarriage in history helped me feel less alone.
Hearing other women open up about their losses, and reading about miscarriage in history helped me feel less alone.
When I told my mother about my miscarriage, she asked, “So what did you do to cause it?”
She is the product of generations of Arab women who face blame and shame for everything, something that I internalised but #resist every day.
Miscarriage is not our fault.
She is the product of generations of Arab women who face blame and shame for everything, something that I internalised but #resist every day.
Miscarriage is not our fault.
Texts written in Akkadian from ~3,000 years ago address and treat miscarriage with no visible cause, as well as that caused by events like fevers or assault.
“If her veins let flow bright red, you grind magnetic hematite and wrap it in a tuft of wool...”
“If her veins let flow bright red, you grind magnetic hematite and wrap it in a tuft of wool...”
Lamaštu, a demon with eagle talons, a lion’s face, and dirty hands, is the supernatural force responsible for difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth.
“The daughter of Anu daily counts the pregnant women...She holds in her hands fever, cold, chills, frost.”
“The daughter of Anu daily counts the pregnant women...She holds in her hands fever, cold, chills, frost.”
Assyrian and Babylonian medical professionals, including women, performed exams on pregnant women and attempted to treat a range of symptoms.
“If her womb has turned over, so that she lies stretched out, then you give her the tampon of fresh kukru as thick as necessary...”
“If her womb has turned over, so that she lies stretched out, then you give her the tampon of fresh kukru as thick as necessary...”
Diagnostic texts written in Akkadian from thousands of years ago attempt to predict the course of a pregnancy based on features of a pregnant woman.
“If the face of a woman of childbearing age is calm, she will bring the foetus to term.”
“If the face of a woman of childbearing age is calm, she will bring the foetus to term.”
The Akkadian word for womb is the same as the word for mercy: rēmu
Based on Akkadian medical texts, the causes for difficulties in pregnancy range from the supernatural, like Lamaštu seen in this amulet, to the natural, including illness and assault.
The expectant mother is not blamed.
The expectant mother is not blamed.
Cuneiform medicine dedicated a whole section of diagnostic and therapeutic texts to menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth.
There is no added shame in the sources, only the combination of medicine and magic used to treat all illness. The woman’s safety is the priority.
There is no added shame in the sources, only the combination of medicine and magic used to treat all illness. The woman’s safety is the priority.
Miscarriage is as old an experience as pregnancy.
It can be devastating and terrifying, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.
Love and solidarity to anyone out there who has gone through it. You’re not alone today, and you’re not alone in the whole herstory of womankind.
It can be devastating and terrifying, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.
Love and solidarity to anyone out there who has gone through it. You’re not alone today, and you’re not alone in the whole herstory of womankind.
