Women experience childbirth as either creative act or passive ordeal

Evidence

Some women say they felt creative power during childbirth; they truly accomplished a voluntary and productive piece of work; many others feel passive, a suffering and tortured instrument. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1486

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concretizes the immanence/transcendence split as it applies to the subjective experience of childbirth itself — those who feel creative are in transcendence, those who feel passive are trapped in immanence.
• XREF: connects to: Childbirth feels depersonalizing, leaving the mother without pride in creation — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 154; Painful childbirth is agentive despite being unwilled and particularized; Home-birthing women treat unmedicated childbirth as empowering (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Unwilled, painful birth is still a form of female agency #corroborates (0.85)
• Painful childbirth is agentive despite being unwilled and particularized #corroborates (0.82)
• Home-birthing women treat unmedicated childbirth as empowering #corroborates (0.78)