In addition to learning the conduct of mothering during this period, my informants saw the period as a time to return to their former pre-pregnancy self.
“Period of recovery” is the phrase used by all my younger informants when talking about the confinement period. Most from the older age group considered the confinement period as the time when they kembali seperti semula (go back to before). When requested to explain what they meant by this, “I do not want to remain fat” was a resounding answer from all my informants who decided to go through the confinement period. Ms. Su even remarked that I did not follow my confinement practices properly as I was still overweight! She then recommended me a fat burning cream similar to that in Figure 6.1 so that I could regain my slim figure.
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In Chapter 4, I discussed how the growing body which is a nourishing container for the baby is regarded as the ideal pregnant body. In contrast, women undergoing the confinement period aim to work towards achieving the ideal figure of slimness. Therefore, the end of childbirth marks the beginning of a resubmission of one‟s embodiment to the dominant norms of emphasized femininity (Connell, 1987). According to Connell (1987: 183), the norms of emphasized femininity require women to accommodate to the “interests and desires of men”. The dominant norms of emphasized femininity with its focus on slimness and sexuality results in an obsessive focus on maintaining one‟s youthful disposition. The confinement period is then also about bringing back one‟s youthful vigor and preserving it till old age. We see this among the Vietnamese women who were the subject of two of Mathews‟ and Manderson‟s studies done
Figure 6.1 Ganggang herbs to cleanse the vagina (left) and body contouring lotion to aid in weight loss (right)
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in 1981. The women featured in their study aspire to go through the confinement period in an attempt to stop their biological clocks. This is also reflected in my informants‟ account:
“We are getting older by the day even though our lifespan is determined by Allah. So for our future, if we want to remain beautiful, our bodies not menggelebeh (flabby) everywhere, make us look old, we should do what the orang tua say. So like pilis, if we pull our hair, we won‟t have headaches when we are old. It is true. We use the bengkung for two months so that we would not have unattractive pot bellies, our stomach won‟t be big, wind won‟t get in when we get old. So our bodies won‟t look fat. So I did that for my first, second, third, fourth and fifth child.” (Ms. Idayu)
Therefore, for many of the women in the older age group, the confinement period was a way to pre-empt oneself from contracting the health ailments that commonly afflicts the old:
“pain here, pain there. Osteoporosis will set in. Once you reach menopause, you will then get all these symptoms, if you do not follow the confinement practices.” (Ms.
Midah)
Agreeing with Ms. Midah, Mdm Kamisah tells me that “it is at old age that you feel the effects of the confinement rituals”. The Malay woman‟s body must remain preserved in its sexualized, youthful form until old age as framed by adat and Islam. Ms. Idayu credits her good health and figure at her age to the confinement period. Ms. Midah also insinuated about how the confinement period helps to maintain one‟s disposition as an ideal Malay woman after having just given birth through the ideal route of the vagina:
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“The vagina stretches so you want to regain that back so you need to sit correctly. You have to sit straight, with your legs closed together. That is why adat and pantang larang are very good because it teaches us how to behave as a proper woman”.
The above quote demonstrates how adat is not only part of the discourse that idealizes women‟s sexuality; it is also referred to by my informants to manage their embodied practices in order to achieve this state. So for Ms. Su, women who “do not love themselves” would not go through the confinement period. They will not be able to return to their sexualized, slim, youthful figure.
They will not be able to embody the virtues of the ideal Malay woman.
Figure 6.2 Jamu to tighten the vagina (left) and increase breast production (right)
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Nevertheless the quotes in this section also suggest how the effects of not having gone through the confinement period to help one recover from the stresses of childbirth and pregnancy will come to haunt one at old age. Consequently, my older informants considered the vitality of their seasoned bodies as proof of the efficacy of the rituals:
“Look, I am 80 years old but I am still very active, still very fit. Alhamdullilah (Thank Allah) I have no diabetes, no high blood pressure, nothing. This is what happens when you take care of yourself properly dalam pantang.”
(Mdm Hasnah)