In this piece Anna G. Warrener, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, discusses the preoccupation with pelvis size and how it hides a complicated story of interacting biological and cultural factors that shape the human birth experience. She says, “The obstetrical dilemma, a term first coined by Sherwood Washburn in 1960, describes what he saw as the competing demands on the female pelvis of bipedalism and birthing big-brained infants. The paradigm has since expanded beyond its original meaning to explain many human phenomena, including maternal mortality, birth timing, infant development, and even aspects of social organization.”

Pelvic Dilemas?
Anthropology News, March 14