明清笔记小说与医案中稳婆形象刍议

Plain Opinions on Image of Midwives in Literary Sketches and Medical Records of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

收生作为稳婆的主要工作,在明清时期受到了包括男性医者和士人阶层在内的诸多诟病。稳婆与收生有关的负面形象受到了主流舆论的推动,逐渐成为时至今日人们仍在沿用的刻板印象,这直接导致了明清时期稳婆形象的构建过于片面,从而忽略了其职业性和专业性。事实上,稳婆群体在古代女性生产过程中,无论是在性别视角还是医学视角下,都起到了重要且无法轻易被"男性医者"或"家中年长女性"取代的作用;也正是她们独有的技能,成就了明清时期罕见的职业女性的地位。

Child delivery is the primary job of midwives in ancient China. However, it was widely attacked by male healer and scholars. Midwives’ negative images that related to child delivery were pushed by the mainstream of public opinions, and gradually turned into the stereotypies that people keep holding even in nowadays. It directly caused the images that midwives in that period of time seem to be unilateral. People somehow ignored the fact that midwives worked professionally and occupationally. In fact, no matter from the perspective of genders or medical science, midwives played an important role in the process of childbirth, which cannot be easily replaced by male healers or elderly females in the family. Their unique skills made them achieve the unique positions of professional women in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.