‘If slendernesse be the cause of unfruitfulnesse; you must nourish and fatten the body’: Thin Bodies and Infertility in Early Modern England

• Published in: The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History pp. 171 - 197
• Main Author: Toulalan, Sarah
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK
• Subjects: Anorexia; Bodies; Humoral model; Lean; Midwifery; Reproductive cycle; Size; Slender; Thin
• ISBN: 1137520795; 9781137520791
• DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-52080-7_10

Early modern authors of medical and midwifery books invariably identified body size – whether too fat or too thin – as a cause of reproductive dysfunction; this chapter investigates thin bodies and infertility. Ideas about the likely infertility of very thin bodies were derived from ancient classical models of reproduction but resonated in early modern society, especially as diseases that might cause sickness and wasting were prevalent, and the poor might struggle to achieve an adequate diet. The generative success of couples was the foundation of social, economic, political, and religious stability but mortality, especially infant, was high. Promotion of fertility and provision of treatments for infertility were thus continuing concerns. Although there was little change during this period, some shifts in thinking occurred in the eighteenth century reflecting new theories about conception, foetal nutrition in utero, causes of miscarriage, how birth is initiated, and emergent eighteenth-century anxieties about masturbation.