Endnote 3 – Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?

Reducing pages of cautious analysis to a few sentences is not fair to Dundes. His conclusion, in context, follows his study of “couvade,” a complex of behaviors in which new fathers or about-to-be fathers experience pregnancy and/or birthing phenomena such as morning sickness, discomfort, weakness and labor pains. Dundes explains this as an expression of the male’s desire to control the whole birthing process and that it marks his complete control over the nature of his offspring (pp. 44–47). Dundes’s work should be consulted by those interested in pursuing the matter in greater detail.