Of Homunculus Born: A Short History of Invisible Women

Contemporary anti-women’s organizations have had great success in recasting a fertilized ovum as a “preborn” or “unborn baby,” fueling opposition against abortion and birth control such as the Pill and the IUD. Their imagery of “baby at conception” and their frequent use of the male pronoun are strongly reminiscent of the homunculus, the image Nicolaas Hartsoeker drew in 1694 of a little man coiled in a sperm. Throughout Western history, a clear thread of male thought has placed “his” baby into her uterus, justifying male and governmental control over the whole woman. This book examines the history of male opinion about women’s participation in procreation and explores the status of women in classical Europe, the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and today’s American procreative policies.