{"title":"Constructing <i>Centimeters</i>: Emanuel Friedman's Cervimeter and the Dilatation-Time Curve.","authors":"Rebecca L Jackson","doi":"10.1353/bhm.2025.a963726","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1954 Emanuel Friedman created a new dimension for measuring labor-change in dilatation rate over time-allowing the birthing body to participate in defining what it meant for labor to be \"arrested.\" Yet in constructing a \"normal\" standard curve of dilatation-over-time for guiding labor decisions and constructing a measuring instrument (the \"cervimeter\") to evidence the shape of this curve, Friedman unintentionally enabled a new dimension of labor to emerge: centimeters of dilation, today read as the state of labor progress. This article examines an oral interview with Friedman, the raw data from his first study, and his published research to show how the cervimeter reified centimeters as an \"objectively\" measurable interval-scale unit (rather than representing an ordinal approximation felt by hand) and enabled the transformation of Fried-man's curve from a graphical tool meant to conform to women into a tool used to conform them.</p>","PeriodicalId":55304,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the History of Medicine","volume":"99 1","pages":"51-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Bulletin of the History of Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2025.a963726","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In 1954 Emanuel Friedman created a new dimension for measuring labor-change in dilatation rate over time-allowing the birthing body to participate in defining what it meant for labor to be "arrested." Yet in constructing a "normal" standard curve of dilatation-over-time for guiding labor decisions and constructing a measuring instrument (the "cervimeter") to evidence the shape of this curve, Friedman unintentionally enabled a new dimension of labor to emerge: centimeters of dilation, today read as the state of labor progress. This article examines an oral interview with Friedman, the raw data from his first study, and his published research to show how the cervimeter reified centimeters as an "objectively" measurable interval-scale unit (rather than representing an ordinal approximation felt by hand) and enabled the transformation of Fried-man's curve from a graphical tool meant to conform to women into a tool used to conform them.
期刊介绍：
A leading journal in its field for more than three quarters of a century, the Bulletin spans the social, cultural, and scientific aspects of the history of medicine worldwide. Every issue includes reviews of recent books on medical history. Recurring sections include Digital Humanities & Public History and Pedagogy. Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official publication of the American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) and the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine.
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