This research is about various stress resistance resources that cultures develop to assist women in the reproductive process. Two cultural behavior complexes are examined: morning sickness and childbirth labor pain tolerance. Various hypotheses to be tested suggest that many of the customs and behaviors associated with these activities are resistance resources whose purpose is to reduce stress in the lives of women, particularly as they become expectant mothers. Many behaviors and practices related to morning sickness, e.g. food cravings, isolation, bizarre requests of the mother, taboos against cooking, touching male implements, or children, and concepts of pollution, etc. have been interpreted as suppressing women and part of the complex of male supremacy found in traditional and developing societies. In contrast, it is suggested here that just the opposite occurs: these practices which take women out of their daily routine and trigger the help of those around them provide social supports for women during stressful and dangerous times, provide regular periods of rest, and re-affirm their worth to those around them. Many studies report differences in childbirth pain tolerance by women from different cultures. Labor pain is investigated here not as a physiological phenomenon, but as an experience which is basically an emotional phenomenon. It is suggested that the experience of childbirth pain is related to the status of women (and indirectly the amount of chronic stress) in different cultures, and to the social supports women have during pregnancy and childbirth. The more social supports women have, the greater will be their tolerance of labor pain. These and rival hypotheses are tested using the cross-cultural method on a sample of 186 societies worldwide. Results will be applicable to the reproductive health of women world wide, especially in traditional and developing countries, and to many immigrant populations in the United States.
